British low-cost computer hardware group Raspberry Pi is looking at a £500million flotation on the London Stock Exchange, with shares to be made available to both retail and institutional investors.
Raspberry Pi has hired broker Peel Hunt and investment bank Jeffries to work on its initial public offer (IPO), which will see new and existing shares offered to buyers. It said that the IPO should provide a good payday for its majority shareholder, the technology education charity the Raspberry Pi Foundation.
Chief executive Eben Upton said that the charity had been a “patient and supportive shareholder” of the company, which launched in early 2012. “This IPO brings the opportunity to double down on their (the charity’s) outstanding work to enable young people to realise their potential through the power of computing. We’ve hugely appreciated their support on our journey so far and are delighted that the Foundation will remain a major shareholder,” he said.
The Raspberry Pi Foundation’s original low cost computer was designed to help teach computer science in schools and in developing countries. However, its popularity grew and its devoted user base includes manufacturers and industrial users and hobbists, in addition to teachers.
Since 2012, it has sold more than 60million devices and last year made a pre-tax profit of £38.2million, nearly double its result from the prior year.
