In acquiring Fancy That, Palantir has added retail and shopping information to its already successful data analytics platform. Currently used in sectors like finance, insurance research and healthcare, Palantir hopes to support retailers with their omnichannel approaches, which includes physical stores, online and mobile shopping.
The omnichannel approach has become a significant part of many companies’ commercial strategies, focusing on mobile payments, online shopping, in-store alerts and social media that enhance the physical shopping experience.
Fancy That adds features such as cleaning up inventories, optimizing discount offers and tracking customer habits to make store operations more efficient. It does this by combining both hardware and software technologies, and utilizing existing advancements, including mobile and sensor based technology, and machine learning.
The acquisition was announced through Fancy That’s blog, and other sources, but fell short of disclosing the terms of the deal. It does represent an enlargement of Palantir’s portfolio, building on their purchase of the social polling and marketing company Poptip last year.
What does seem clear is Palantir’s desire to build their business, writing “The decision to join Palantir was not made lightly, but ultimately it was clear that our goal of solving important problems in a data-driven way is deeply aligned with theirs. We are confident that we will be able to drive more value—in the retail industry and beyond—working in concert with the awesome team at Palantir.”
Started in June 2013, Fancy That has its origins in the Pejman Mar Ventures’ Garage. The Garage was started through a collaboration of Pejman and Mar Ventures, and a group of Stanford University students with the intention of building companies without establishing equity or an obligation to pursue the project post-program.
With Palantir now valued at $15 billion it appears to be strengthening its market position. However, the controversy surrounding its co-founder Joe Lonsdale, currently being sued for sexual assault, continues to raise uncertainty.