The Raspberry Pi Foundation has publicly listed its commercial subsidiary in an Initial Public Offering (IPO) with the London Stock Exchange. And it’s off to the races: After setting its starting share price at 280 pence, giving it a market capitalization £541.6 million (about $690 million), it saw the price soar above 380 pence, an immediate gain of 40 percent.
“We’re proud to announce that Raspberry Pi has listed on the London Stock Exchange, as Raspberry Pi Holdings plc,” Raspberry Pi CEO Eben Upton announced. “This is a watershed moment for Raspberry Pi, and the start of a new phase in our evolution: Access to the public market will enable us to build more of the products you love, faster.”
The Raspberry Pi Foundation was founded as an educational charity in the UK in 2008 with a goal of inspiring young people to learn to write software code and create things using technology. To achieve these aims, it has produced a series of low-cost, programmable computers—typically in board form—via a commercial subsidiary called Raspberry Pi Ltd. It launched its first Raspberry Pi computer in 2012.
“The commitment to low-cost computing that was at the heart of Raspberry Pi’s founding ethos remains unchanged and has been enshrined in a legally binding agreement between the Foundation and the company,” Raspberry Pi Foundation chief executive Philip Colligan explains. “Raspberry Pi will always produce low-cost, general-purpose computers that can be used for teaching and learning.”
Upton notes that the firm has sold over 60 million Raspberry Pi computers to date and that the Foundation has seen a resurgence in interest in computing among young people. By taking its commercial subsidiary public, Raspberry Pi now has more capital to pursue its goals more aggressively and impact education even more.