Raspberry Pi is ready to float, says CEO Eben Upton, who is looking to IPO the company on the London Stock Exchange.

 “When the markets are ready, we’ll be ready as well,” says Upton.

Because of the chip crisis only 5 million Raspberry Pis were sold last year for revenues of $188 million and a profit of $20 million. Upton says there was demand for nine million last year and expects to sell seven million this year.Raspberry Pi 5

Raspberry Pi raised about $45 million in 2021 at a valuation of $500 million and another,  undisclosed, amount earlier this year at the same valuation.

 

  Raspberry Pi is controlled by the Raspberry Pi Foundation which is a charity serving educational purposes and which owns Raspberry Pi Ltd which makes and sells the products giving the profits to the Foundation.

Presumably, if Raspberry Pi Ltd is IPO’d, it will pay future profits to the shareholders which might, or might not, include the Foundation depending on whether the Foundation retains a share in Raspberry Pi Ltd after the IPO.

Upton qualified his remark about being ready to IPO by adding “when the markets are ready” and after the less than stellar success of Arm’s IPO last month, analysts are now saying that the markets may not be ready until H2 2024.