Data analytics software company Palantir Technologies said late Monday that it has filed confidentially for a public stock offering.
Founded in 2004, Palantir has been among the most highly valued venture-backed companies, raising about $2.6 billion and reaching a $20 billion valuation five years ago. The Palo Alto, California-based company told CNBC in April it expected to exceed $1 billion in revenue this year.
Large companies and government agencies use Palantir's software, typically incorporating extensive amounts of data, and Palantir employs "forward deployed software engineers" who work closely with clients. As recently as last week, Palantir signaled in a filing that it was raising more capital as part of a round that could near $1 billion.
Palantir has over 2,500 employees listed on LinkedIn. Peter Thiel, an early backer of Facebook, has encouraged the company to stay private as long as possible, although co-founder Joe Lonsdale has lobbied for an IPO. A year ago Lonsdale predicted that an IPO was "a few years" away, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Last month, Palantir added Alexandra Wolfe Schiff, who was then a Journal reporter, to its board of directors, becoming its first woman director. California requires public companies based in the state to have at least one woman on their board.
The notice of a confidential filing does not mean that a public listing is necessarily imminent. Food delivery company Postmates said it had confidentially filed for an IPO in February 2019, but it never went public. On Monday, Uber said it had agreed to buy Postmates for $2.65 billion in stock.
Palantir has been appeared seven times on CNBC's annual Disruptor 50 list.
-- CNBC's Ari Levy contributed to this report.
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