Is the long awaited Raspberry Pi flotation about to happen?
- Reference: 1715605207
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2024/05/13/raspberry_pi_ipo/
- Source link:
A [1]write-up in The Sunday Times over the weekend cited unnamed City sources as suggesting that a £500 million ($627 million) flotation could happen within the next two weeks, although might be delayed "if market conditions deteriorate."
Raspberry Pi Ltd appointed bankers Peel Hunt and Jefferies ahead of an initial public offering. In January 2024, CEO Eben Upton [2]told The Register , "We want to be ready when the markets are ready.
[3]
"The business is in a much better place than it was last time we looked at it. We partly stopped because the markets got bad. And we partly stopped because our business became unpredictable."
[4]
[5]
Today, Upton did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the latest flotation rumors.
In terms of valuation, £500 million seems reasonable. In 2023, Arm Holdings [6]acquired a minority stake in the company, which valued it at around £400 million ($500 million). In accounts [7]filed at UK Companies House for the year ending December 31, 2022, Raspberry Pi Ltd reported revenues of £188 million ($236 million), an increase of 34 percent from the previous year.
[8]
In 2021, rumors of a flotation that would have valued the company at approximately £300 million ($376 million) were [9]dismissed by Upton. However, he told The Register , "We speak to advisors all the time about how we might fund the future growth of the business."
The Raspberry Pi is a series of single-board computers, initially aimed at education users but later adopted for industrial purposes. Most of the devices use a Linux operating system, although Windows 10 IoT Core was [10]released for the Raspberry 2 and 3 by Microsoft. Enterprising enthusiasts have also managed to [11]coax Windows 11 into life on the platform.
[12]Raspberry Pi on IPO plans: 'We want to be ready when the markets are ready'
[13]Raspberry Pi Foundation boss waves off listing rumours, says biz discussions may have been 'over-interpreted'
[14]Microsoft wasn't joking about the Dev Channel not enforcing hardware checks: Windows 11 pops up on Pi, mobile phone
[15]Raspberry Pi 5 revealed, and it should satisfy your need for speed
The price has, alas, crept up over the years. While the performance of the latest generation – the [16]Raspberry Pi 5 – is impressive, the price is less so. The 4GB version retails for just under £60 ($75, including the UK VAT), while the 8GB incarnation is just over £75 ($94).
Raspberry Pi Ltd has also diversified into microcontroller-class hardware with the [17]RP2040 . The wireless-enabled Pi Pico W, based on the RP2040, can be picked up for just under £6 ($7.50).
And yes, the Pico [18]can run Doom . ®
Get our [19]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/british-tech-firm-raspberry-pi-lines-up-500m-float-gbp5n378d
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/30/raspberry_pi_ipo/
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZkI5IpQZv8RqBP@7wxoKlQAAAI4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZkI5IpQZv8RqBP@7wxoKlQAAAI4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZkI5IpQZv8RqBP@7wxoKlQAAAI4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/03/arm_raspberry_pi/
[7] https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/08207441/filing-history
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/personaltech&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZkI5IpQZv8RqBP@7wxoKlQAAAI4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/15/pi_not_listing/
[10] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=55029
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/30/windows_11_pi/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/30/raspberry_pi_ipo/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2021/03/15/pi_not_listing/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/30/windows_11_pi/
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/28/raspberry_pi_5_revealed/
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/28/raspberry_pi_5_revealed/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2021/01/21/pi_pico/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2022/03/16/doom_pi_pico/
[19] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Oh dear...
n/t
Re: Oh dear...
ARM, sold abroad.
RPi, presumably soon to be sold abroad.
This is why we (the UK) can't have nice things.
Re: Oh dear...
Nobody can blame the founders for being rewarded for their idea and years of work. And there is the possibility that they could use the money to do something amazing.
But I really don't know of a single example of these flotations working out well for the consumers over the long term.
Re: Oh dear...
I think you are reading it wrong.
It's more like founders have lost confidence in the UK and its future economy. It's basically the time to jump ship with some of the earned riches.
Re: Oh dear...
I'm really hoping this doesn't happen. If it does, how long after the flotation before a private equity firm get involved, the asset stripping commences before the company is completely dead within less than three years and all the IP is owned by a serial patent troll?
Better to buy a spare Pi or two
Before the price inexplicably doubles because mumble mumble shareholder mumble profits mumble.
Re: Better to buy a spare Pi or two
Or because they're discontinued because they don't bring enough profit.
Re: Better to buy a spare Pi or two
Buying a company then discontinuing all its products is indeed a very MBA move.
As with any commercialisation, the danger is that the organisation eventually loses its original benevolent ethos.
There's no "danger" - it's absolutely certain once it's "everything for the shareholders"
And then as far as I'm concerned, the platform is dead.
Zero Pi
Yesterday I was looking at a new hardware controller box that uses the Pi Zero as its CPU. You could buy it and install your own $10 Pi Zero. But since there are none available on the open market, and there NEVER are any on the market, they are always out of stock, the company will sell you the $10 Pi Zero pre-installed for $70.
I finally found a Pi 5 in stock. Oh wait, it's a $200 bundle with power supply, plastic case, and a chiclet keyboard. I have better parts than that sitting in my junk box.
The Raspberry Pi is still vaporware. You can't build anything on the platform because it's not available to end users except through high-markup price gouging companies that use their exclusive insider access to get the compute modules. Maybe someday there will be a time when anyone can buy a Pi online but so far, that has been precisely NEVER.
Re: Zero Pi
This was true a couple of years back, but UK stock of pretty much all models has been fine for a year or so. Don't know where you're based but as you mention $, US stock looks fine too - https://rpilocator.com/?country=US
The price has not crept up this is a complete lie, $5 on the latest ones, when 12 years of inflation is taken into account, the prices is actually less for far more capable product.
You can also buy a Zero 2W for about one third the price of the original $35 Pi B, and you'll get 4 cores instead of one, double the RAM, faster clock and WiFi.