One of the most popular maker brands over the last decade or so has been the Raspberry Pi. These affordable computer chips are great for people of all ages who want to get creative with technology but there has been a big focus on the education sector too to get kids more interested in tech.
Now, the Raspberry Pi Foundation has listed its commercial subsidiary, Raspberry Pi Ltd, on the London Stock Exchange so that anyone can go out and buy the company’s shares and ultimately help the company.
The company’s first trading day was on Tuesday when it debuted at 280 pence (£2.80) per share implying a market cap of around £541.6 million. Investors seemed excited by the prospect of buying Raspberry Pi shares and this caused the price to close at 385 pence.
As a newly public company, we don’t have years of financial statements to see how successful Raspberry Pi has been at turning a profit, however, the investor relations page published by the company says that it recorded a $66 million profit for the 2023 financial year which is a good sign and a break from the chronically loss-making tech companies we see trading shares.
The same page also says that 28% of its computers were bought by enthusiasts and the education sector while 72% of sales were from the industrial and embedded sector. This is pretty good for Raspberry Pi as it should find more customers and deeper pockets among business customers compared to individual buyers and the education sector which often faces constrained budgets in many countries.
For anyone out there passionate about Raspberry Pi and thinking about buying shares in the company, sitting back and watching what happens could be a good idea. We frequently see IPO excitement drive up prices before falling back down several days later. Waiting could mean getting in at a lower price.