Why it matters: Silicon Valley has seen its share of big tech initial public offerings, but this month, a different kind of computing company is entering the market – the Raspberry Pi Foundation. The affordable single-board computer maker expects to price its shares at around £2.80 ($3.56) each in the hotly anticipated IPO. This little non-profit could soon be worth nearly $700 million if all goes as planned.
Bloomberg notes that Raspberry Pi stands to raise £179 million ($228 million) when it goes public on June 14. The cash influx would give the company a market capitalization of around £540 million (roughly $686 million). While public offerings can sometimes raise concerns about a company losing its way, Raspberry Pi is reassuring the community that its educational mission remains the top priority.
The report notes that the demand for Raspberry Pi shares is already quite heated, with the deal reportedly heavily oversubscribed. Given the cult-like following the credit card-sized computer has amassed since its 2012 debut, this hardly comes as a surprise.
“Instead of receiving a share of the company’s profits each year, we will convert some of our shareholding into an endowment that we will use to fund our educational programmes,” Raspberry Pi Foundation’s CEO Philip Colligan explained.
In other words, the IPO monetizes a chunk of the foundation’s ownership to secure a financial chest for its initiatives. Its commitment to nurturing the next generation of tech talent is a core tenet. Raspberry Pi Ltd says it has donated nearly $50 million of its profits to the Foundation. Combined with over $60 million raised from other philanthropic sources and educational contracts, it has furthered computing learning around the globe.
However, Raspberry Pi’s growth has necessitated injecting more capital into its initiatives. In a blog post last month, the company stated that Raspberry Pi Ltd on a public market will enable it to raise additional capital, leading to “broader reach, greater impact, and ultimately more value being created for the benefit of all shareholders, including the Foundation.”
Raspberry first announced its intention to get listed on the London Stock Exchange on May 22, 2024, although rumors have circulated for years. The announcement came after Arm Holdings acquired a minority stake in the company late last year, building on a collaboration that began in 2008. An executive at Arm stated that going public would help further the companies’ goals of making computing more accessible and allowing anyone to innovate with IoT solutions.
