Report: Raspberry Pi Trading hired investment banks Stifel and Liberum to advise on a London IPO planned for this spring that would value it at ~$500M
Les Pounder / Tom's Hardware : Source: Telegraph .
Context & Ripple Effects
This report is the opening move of an arc that took two and a half years to resolve: Raspberry Pi Trading's hire of Stifel and Liberum in late 2021 was the first signal it would pursue a public listing rather than stay private. The banks' mandate sat idle through the pandemic-era chip shortage before the company finally confirmed its London IPO plans in May 2024, disclosing $265.8M in 2023 revenue and $43.5M adjusted EBITDA.
The eventual outcome validated the original thesis with room to spare: shares priced at £2.80 and the stock jumped up to 39% on its June 2024 trading debut, reaching a £542M market cap against the ~$500M valuation floated back when this story ran.
First-order effects
- Stifel and Liberum convert a two-and-a-half-year advisory mandate into a completed listing, with Raspberry Pi gaining public-market currency while its early backers and charity-linked shareholders get a priced exit route.
Second-order effects
- A successful home-listing for a Cambridge hardware firm strengthens London's pitch as Europe's tech listing venue — the same city that Dealroom data shows has overtaken Paris as Europe's leading tech hub — giving the LSE a showcase deal to court other profitable hardware and deep-tech candidates.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, profitable single-category hardware makers can reach public markets on operating results rather than venture-scale growth narratives, shifting the UK listing pipeline toward cash-generative industrial-tech names instead of pre-revenue startups.
The trend: London is rebuilding its case as a venue for profitable hardware and deep-tech listings, with Raspberry Pi's delayed-but-triumphant float as a key proof point.