Peter Thiel's Palantir raises another $20 million

The company had already raised over $2 billion, including $880 million last year

Palantir, which has been called "the most secretive company" in Silicon Valley, has just taken a new round of funding, but one that is oddly small for a company of its size.

The company, which offers a suite of software applications for integrating and analyzing data, has raised $20 million, it was a revealed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week.  All of the new money came from a single investors, whose identity was not disclosed.

A $20 million round is peanuts compared to the money that Palatir has already raised; the company's last funding was an $880 million round in December of 2015, which was said to have valued it at $20 billion. Palantir has raised over $2 billion in funding. 

In addition to the investor, it's also unknown what Palantir plans to do with the new money.  VatorNews reached out to Palantir for more information and we will update this story if we learn more. 

Palantir is a data analytics and security company that helps government agencies track down terrorists and uncover financial fraud.

Backed by In-Q-Tel, a VC firm for intelligence firms, including the CIA, and Peter Thiel's Founder's Fund, it offers two products, whose names come from the hometowns of two superheroes: Palantir Gotham and Palantir Metropolis. 

Palantir Gotham, which integrates, manages, secures and analyzes enterprise data is used by counter-terrorism analysts, while Palantir Metropolis, which can analyze any kind of quantitative data, is typically used by hedge funds, banks, and financial services firms.

This has been an up and down year for the company, which was sued by the Department of Labor for discriminatory hiring practices, while Palantir itself sued one of its own investors for stealing company secrets. 

At the same time, it recently won a lawsuit against the U.S. Army (there are certainly a lot of law suits going here, aren't there?) over a data systems contract. Palantir had previously lost the bid, and now is back in the running.

Even more importantly, though, the company now has a man inside the government, who has reached the upper echelons of power: co-founder Thiel, who was a major supporter of Donald Trump (one the very, very fewer outspoken supporters in Silicon Valley), and was recently named to the campaign's transition team as it spends the next two months getting ready to enter the White House.

That means that the PayPal founder will not only be involved with the vetting of presidential appointments, but he will also play a part in policy, helping to select which of Trump’s campaign promises he actually follows through on.

Thiel now has the President's ear, and a company that relies on government contracts. That could mean a big boost for Palantir.

The SEC filing was uncovered by TechCrunch. 

(Image source: palantir.com)