Tiny computer company Raspberry Pi on Wednesday confirmed its intention to join the London Stock Exchange with plans to raise £31.5 million ($40 million) of new capital in an IPO.
Raspberry Pi was valued at £440 million in its last funding round, and recent press reports suggested the planned IPO would put the valuation at around £500 million.
In the latest update, it confirmed that the listing will see a mix of new and existing shares sold to investors – as principal shareholders including the Raspberry Pi Foundation divest.
The share offer is expected to be taken up by new and existing investors.
Arm Technology Investments and Lansdowne Partners, which are both already significant shareholders in the company, will ‘cornerstone’ the float with the investors.
Proceeds from the sale of the new equity will be earmarked for engineering capital expenditure, enhancing supply chain resilience, and other general corporate purposes.
The IPO is being arranged by brokers Jefferies International and Peel Hunt, and the IPO will be opened up to retail investors via the latter's ‘REX’ portal.
"We are delighted to confirm our intention to float on the London Stock Exchange, underscoring our confidence in the UK as the home for innovative and growing global businesses,” Raspberry Pi chair Martin Hellawell said in a statement.
“Raspberry Pi is a British computing success story, and this marks the next stage in the evolution of the company.
“Through the team's dedication to excellence in high-performance, low-cost, general-purpose computing, Raspberry Pi has been transforming the global computing landscape since its first product was launched in 2012, successfully marrying a social agenda with commercial focus.”
Hellawell added: “We greatly appreciate the long-term support of our cornerstone investors, Arm and Lansdowne, and look forward to widening our shareholder base as we take the next steps in our journey."
Paul Williamson, Arm SVP and general manager for Internet of Things (IoT), said: “Following our strategic investment in the business last year, we look forward to increasing our stake as Raspberry Pi steps into this new exciting chapter."
He added: “With a shared vision to lower barriers to innovation and make computing accessible for everyone, Arm and Raspberry Pi are natural collaborators - and as demand for more compute and AI at the edge grows, Raspberry Pi's solutions will continue to drive the adoption of high-performance IoT devices.”
Meanwhile, Lansdowne Partners partner Peter Davies said: "We are delighted to continue to support Raspberry Pi in its IPO. Since our initial investment three years ago, we have been incredibly impressed by the team and everything they have achieved with the business.”