British minicomputer manufacturer Raspberry Pi has announced plans to file for a UK stock market listing, saying the initial public offering would allow the company to expand its current talent pool and product offerings.
Raspberry Pi is best known for making highly affordable microcontrollers and credit card-size single-board computers — the cheapest of which costs just $15. They can be used to make all sorts of things, like smart home control hubs, DIY cameras, home media servers, and more.
A fundraising round in 2023 led by UK chip maker Arm Holdings previously valued Raspberry Pi at around £444 million (about $561 million), though that figure has since potentially risen to roughly £500 million (about $630 million) according to The Times.
Raspberry Pi is hoping to use that cash to pay more engineers, bring aspects of its semiconductor design process in-house, and introduce new, more expensive product variants that “better serve Raspberry Pi’s customers’ needs.” The Raspberry Pi Foundation, the computer science education charity that serves as Raspberry Pi’s parent company, will remain the company’s majority shareholder.
“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,” Raspberry Pi CEO and founder Eben Upton said in the company’s filing, adding that the company now has the “technology roadmap to play an increasingly significant role” in the computing industry.
Jess Weatherbed