Palantir co-founder and chairman Peter Thiel. Photo credit: Web Summit on Flickr, under Creative Commons license

Data mining company Palantir is planning to file for an initial public offering in “coming weeks”, quoting a recent report from Bloomberg, which notes that Palantir is preparing to register a confidential S-1 filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) soon. Palantir, a private company for 16 years now, has long been regarded as a candidate for a public offering and it seems the Palo Alto-based company is getting very much close to that. According to Bloomberg, Palantir is currently working with bankers to organize a tender offer for private shareholders that’ll help smoothen its capital structure and pave the way for a public listing.

As a private company, Palantir has raised some $2 billion in funding. Investors in the company include both tech-focused venture capital firms and traditional Wall Street investors. Several prominent individual entrepreneurs have also invested in Palantir.

The valuation Palantir may seek in a public listing isn’t clear. For a hint, however, Palantir was, last year, reported to be pursuing additional private funding at a valuation as high as $26 billion.