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Raspberry Pi, the British maker of cheap, tiny computers, plans to go public in London, in a boost to the UK stock market at a time when it has struggled to attract growing tech companies.
The Cambridge-based maker of computer modules and low-cost computers for industrial users, enthusiasts and educators said it would seek a listing on the main market of the London Stock Exchange. It expects to publish a registration document later on Wednesday.
The company hopes to seek a market valuation of about $630mn (£500mn), according to a person familiar with its plans, after being priced at $560mn in a private investment last year when UK chip designer Arm took a stake.
Raspberry Pi began trading in 2012 and has since sold more than 60mn single-board computers and computer modules, it said.
The company, in which Japan’s Sony also holds a stake, saw revenues rise 41 per cent to $265.8mn in 2023 over the previous year, with pre-tax profits almost doubling to $38.2mn, according to filings.
Raspberry Pi said it expects to sell 8.4mn units in 2024, up from 7.4mn last year.
The business is a subsidiary of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a UK charity founded in 2008 to promote computer science to young people. The foundation will remain a shareholder following the initial public offering.
The proposed listing comes at a time when the UK public markets have struggled to attract IPO interest from tech companies, which have increasingly preferred to list in New York.
London-listed cyber security company Darktrace last month agreed to a takeover from private equity group Thoma Bravo for £4.3bn, two years after it went public.
“When we released our first product in 2012, our goal was to provide a computer that was affordable enough for young people to own and explore with confidence, giving them the chance to discover computing and get excited about it,” said Eben Upton, Raspberry Pi’s chief executive.
“But from the very beginning we saw customers using our products in a staggering variety of applications across a broad swath of markets, and as we recognised the potential for affordable technology to make a meaningful difference, not just in education but in countless other contexts, the scale of our ambition grew.”
Jefferies International and Peel Hunt have been engaged as joint bookrunners for Raspberry Pi.
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