Data mining startup Palantir has closed a new funding round that takes its total valuation to $20bn (£12.9bn), making the secretive company the fourth most highly valued startup currently operating.

The 11-year-old companys data analytics platform is employed by government agencies and law enforcement services for security and investigation purposes, as well as by financial, insurance, retail and healthcare firms to develop consumer profiles and piece together data sets.

Palantirs technology was supposedly employed in helping identify suspects following the Boston Marathon bombing, sifting through video and photos from the scene, and was also reportedly used by investigators looking into Bernie Madoffs Ponzi scheme to examine financial records.

The SEC filing which revealed the companys new valuation also showed that a further $50m worth of stock has been made available, meaning the firms value could rise even higher in the near future.

The increased investment could see that company aiming to expand beyond its core government business and provide more services to corporate clients and even non-profits (the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children has reported made use of its platform) in order to generate more revenue and raise the companys profile.

In the age of big data, Palantirs reputation for being able to sort through massive amounts of information and produce tangible results is a powerful example of the kind of prestige and money such capabilities can generate, and acts as a sign of things to come, as mobile means there is more and more rich data out there to be collected.