Raspberry Pi shares rose 31% Tuesday in morning trading, as the British computing startup seeks to raise about 166 million pounds ($211.2 million) in its initial public offering.
Raspberry Pi shares began “conditional trading” on Tuesday with full open trading scheduled to begin on Friday. The company's shares rose to 390 pence after the company, which makes small, single-board computers, priced its shares at 280 pence apiece. The listing is seen as a rare win for London's main stock exchange, which has struggled to attract technology company listings.
Based on the initial pricing of its shares, the company was valued at approximately £541.6 million.
The Raspberry Pi offering consists of 45.9 million common shares sold by the company's current majority shareholder, Raspberry Pi Mid Co Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Raspberry Pi Foundation. It also includes 2.13 million common shares sold by other shareholders, in addition to 11.23 million newly issued shares.
If there is more demand, the so-called mass allotment option will allow the Raspberry Pi Foundation to issue another 4.6 million shares. If the lump-sum allotment option is exercised, the final offer size will be £178.9 million.
Raspberry CEO Eben Upton founded the company in 2012 to make computing accessible to young people. Single board computers can be used to power a full range of applications.
While it initially gained traction with hobbyists, the company says 72% of its unit sales are targeted at the industrial market, where they are used, for example, in factories.
In 2023, Raspberry Pi posted revenue of $265.8 million, up 41% year over year from 2022.
There are a number of prominent industrial companies backing the company, including Arm and Sony. Last year, Sony Semiconductor Solutions, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation, invested an undisclosed amount in the British startup.
Although the Raspberry Pi IPO is small compared to other tech companies, it could breathe life into the faltering London Stock Exchange, which has been overlooked by tech companies in favor of listings in other parts of Europe, especially in the United States.
Arm, the Softbank-owned chip designer headquartered in the United Kingdom, chose to list in the United States last year.
