The stealthy arrival of Palantir Technologies last week ranks among the biggest tech company relocations to Denver ever, and, given its work with U.S. immigration officials, one of the most controversial, too.
The move comes at a pivotal time for the Silicon Valley-born data analytics company, which is valued at around $20 billion. Palantir provides software to clients in defense, law enforcement, pharmaceuticals and dozens of other industries, working in areas ranging from health data tracking to logistics to government surveillance.
The company, which now lists its address at 1555 Blake St. instead of Palo Alto, California, filed paperwork with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday laying the groundwork for a long-awaited initial public offering. The filing comes after the company told the SEC in July it was seeking to raise $961 million in private markets.
A Palantir spokeswoman declined to comment for this story, noting the company is in a quiet period ahead of its forthcoming stock listing. The Denver Business Journal first reported the company’s relocation last week.
Sam Bailey, vice president of economic development with the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, called the move “a huge validater” for the city as a player on the national tech scene.
“I think for the metro Denver region, it means that you don’t have to be in the Bay Area or on the East Coast to become a public company,” Bailey said. “You can do it that here in Colorado, in the middle of the country.”
Palantir’s client list includes U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and while the company has pushed back on the idea that its data software aids in deportations, the Colorado Immigrants Rights Coalition, or CIRC, has already condemned its arrival in the state.
“Our understanding at CIRC is that a lot of the work that Palantir is supporting really violates the civil liberties of immigrant communities,” said Siena Mann, the coalition’s campaign manager.
When state Sen. Julie Gonzales, D-Denver, heard about Palantir coming to the city, she reached out to immigrant rights and civil rights groups in the area.
Prior to the pandemic, Gonzales was working on a bill that would have prevented ICE from “data mining” immigrants’ contact information from state databases to use for immigration and deportation procedures. While she had to drop the bill after the state began focusing on its coronavirus response, she is considering a similar one in the 2021 legislative session.
In a letter included in its SEC filing earlier this week, Palantir CEO Alex Karp noted ideological differences with other Silicon Valley tech companies. The company co-founded by conservative billionaire Peter Thiel.
“The engineering elite of Silicon Valley may know more than most about building software. But they do not know more about how society should be organized or what justice requires,” Karp wrote. “Our software is used to target terrorists and to keep soldiers safe. If we are going to ask someone to put themselves in harm’s way, we believe that we have a duty to give them what they need to do their job.”
State and city economic development officials have issued statements touting Colorado’s strong business environment, quality of life and talented workforce as factors they believe helped attract Palantir.
“The city did not recruit or offer any incentives for Palantir to relocate to Denver, but we’re not surprised that our workforce talent pool and quality of life is a major selling point for any major tech company, and has made us a destination for these businesses to locate and relocate,” reads a statement from Mayor Michael Hancock’s office.
A Hancock spokesman declined to comment on the company’s work with ICE.
According to its SEC filing, Palantir had nearly 2,400 employees as of Dec. 31. The company lost around $580 million last year and has never had a profitable year since its launch in 2003.
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