Palantir sues ex-employees over AI startup, alleging deception, stolen documents
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Palantir on Thursday sued two former employees who now work at Percepta, an "AI transformation company" recently launched by venture capital giant General Catalyst.
Why it matters: GC has become one of venture's most ambitious firms, having recently bought an Ohio hospital and participated in a takeover bid for Janus Henderson. There's lots of IPO buzz.
- This could stain its story, even if GC never gets added to the defendant roster.
Zoom in: According to a civil complaint filed in New York's Southern District, Palantir alleges that the two ex-senior engineers "used deception and stolen documents and information to create a competing copycat business."
- It also accuses the pair — one of whom is a Percepta co-founder — of breaching noncompete agreements, which do not seem to have been applicable to the other ex-Palantir employees now working at Percepta.
- Palantir claims that it was unaware of where either ex-employee was working until GC publicly unveiled Percepta, after which it launched a forensic investigation.
- It claims to have discovered that one of them Slacked herself "highly confidential documents," one day after giving notice, and then accessed them via her personal phone.
- The lawsuit requests an injunction and the return of of any applicable documents.
Zoom out: Palantir's core allegation on the noncompetes, which often are tough to enforce, is that Percepta is an "imitation" company — using some of GC's own language against it.
- This could be an uphill legal battle, given that virtually every enterprise startup is, in some way, seeking to help legacy companies use AI as a transformation tool. Successful execution is what wins.
By the numbers: Palantir has a $471 billion market cap. GC hasn't disclosed how much it invested to form Percepta.
The bottom line: There's a growing trend of startup-involved litigation, typically focused on allegations of trade secret and document theft. So far, it hasn't had much negative impact on venture dollar disbursements.
Neither General Catalyst nor Palantir responded to requests for comment.
