EdTechDeals

Raspberry Pi has floated on the London Stock Exchange this morning with the business valued at £542 million.

Ordinary shares in Raspberry Pi Holdings plc are valued at 280 pence. With a final offer size of £179m – representing approximately 33% of the company’s shares – the IPO will raise £31.4m.

Commencement of conditional dealings begins at 8am, with full admission to the premium listing segment and commencement of unconditional dealings expected to take place at 8am on Friday 14th June.

In a boost for the UK public markets, the Cambridge firm – behind low-cost miniature computers used extensively in education – said the funds will be used “for engineering capital expenditure, to enhance its supply chain resilience and for other general corporate purposes”.

Chipmaking giant Arm has committed to purchasing around £27.5m worth of shares, while Lansdowne Partners will buy more than £15m.

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Launched to the market in 2012, Raspberry Pis – now in their fifth generation – are used widely in education and also have many other applications, such as powering retro gaming systems.

Founded by computer scientist Eben Upton, Raspberry Pi employs almost 100 people. In 2022 it generated £154m, with operating profit of £16m.

“The quality of the interactions during the marketing process has underlined our belief that London has the right calibre and sophistication of investor to support growing, ambitious technology businesses such as Raspberry Pi,” said Upton.

“The reaction that we have received is a reflection of the world-class team that we have assembled and the strength of the loyal community with whom we have grown.

“Welcoming new shareholders alongside our existing ones brings with it a great responsibility, and one that we accept willingly, as we continue on our mission to make high-performance, low-cost computing accessible to everyone.”

The company originally planned to list in 2021 but that decision was delayed due to worsening market conditions and global chip shortages.

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