Palantir Technologies Inc. is a public American company that specializes in software platforms[3] for big data analytics. Headquartered in Denver, Colorado, it was founded by Peter Thiel,[4] Nathan Gettings, Joe Lonsdale, Stephen Cohen, and Alex Karp in 2003. The company's name is derived from The Lord of the Rings where the magical palantíri were "seeing-stones," described as indestructible balls