Our guides recommend boring index funds inside an ISA. That is still our core advice. But when Raspberry Pi listed on the London Stock Exchange in June 2024, it caught Zo's attention — a genuinely British technology company, making hardware she actually uses, now publicly investable. We have been researching what the investment case looks like and what risks come with it.
The Listing: June 2024
Raspberry Pi Holdings plc (ticker: RPI) listed on the London Stock Exchange's main market on 11 June 2024 at an IPO price of 280p per share, valuing the company at approximately £540 million. It was one of the most high-profile UK tech IPOs in years — in part because the Raspberry Pi brand has extraordinary consumer recognition.
The listing raised fresh capital for the company to invest in new products and expanded production capacity. The Raspberry Pi Foundation (the charity) retained a significant stake.
What Raspberry Pi Actually Does
Most people know Raspberry Pi as the maker of cheap, credit-card-sized computers that hobbyists use for projects. That perception is outdated. In 2026, the company sells:
- Single-board computers: The Raspberry Pi 5 (consumer and industrial versions), priced from around £50-80
- Compute Modules: Compact boards designed to be embedded inside commercial products — digital signage, industrial controllers, thin clients
- Microcontrollers: The RP2040 and RP2350 chips, sold to other manufacturers to embed in their own products
- Accessories: Cameras, displays, cases, power supplies, keyboards
The critical insight most people miss: Raspberry Pi is not primarily a hobbyist company any more.
Revenue Breakdown: 70% Industrial
This is the number that surprises most people. Approximately 70% of Raspberry Pi's revenue comes from industrial and commercial customers, with only 30% from the consumer/hobbyist market that made the brand famous.
Industrial use cases include:
- Digital signage: Advertising screens in shops, airports, and restaurants running on Raspberry Pi Compute Modules
- Industrial automation: Factory floor controllers and monitoring systems
- Embedded computing: Thin clients for offices, kiosk systems, point-of-sale devices
- IoT gateways: Devices that collect and transmit sensor data in smart buildings and agriculture
- Edge AI: Running machine learning models at the edge for quality control and computer vision
The industrial thesis is straightforward: companies that design a Raspberry Pi into their product tend to keep buying for years (design wins are sticky). Once a manufacturer builds their digital signage system around a Compute Module 4, they reorder the same module for every unit they ship.
The Industrial IoT Thesis
The bull case for Raspberry Pi as an investment goes something like this:
- Raspberry Pi is not a toy company — it is an embedded computing platform with a massive developer ecosystem
- Industrial IoT is a multi-decade growth trend (more devices, more automation, more edge computing)
- Raspberry Pi has a unique advantage: millions of developers already know how to use the platform, so companies can easily find engineers to build products with it
- Design wins are sticky — once embedded, customers reorder for years
- The company is expanding its silicon business (RP2040/RP2350 chips sold to third-party manufacturers), which has higher margins than selling complete boards
The developer ecosystem is genuinely significant. Raspberry Pi has over 50 million units sold, an enormous open-source software community, and extensive documentation. For a hardware company, this is an unusual competitive moat.
Recent Demand Dynamics
Raspberry Pi went through a difficult period during 2021-2023 when global chip shortages meant consumer buyers could not get stock, while the company prioritised industrial customers (who had long-term contracts). This frustrated hobbyists but actually strengthened the industrial business.
By 2024-2025, supply normalised. The Raspberry Pi 5 launched and supply has been consistent. The company has invested in diversifying its supply chain and increasing production capacity to avoid future shortages.
Key demand indicators to watch:
- Compute Module unit volumes (industrial demand proxy)
- RP2040/RP2350 chip sales to third parties (silicon business growth)
- Geographical expansion (currently strong in Europe, growing in North America and Asia)
Valuation Considerations
As a recently listed small-cap, Raspberry Pi's valuation is worth examining carefully. At the time of writing (April 2026), key metrics include:
- Market cap: Check current pricing on your broker — this changes daily
- Revenue growth: The company has guided for strong revenue growth driven by industrial Compute Module demand and silicon sales
- Profitability: Raspberry Pi is profitable and cash-generative, which is unusual for a recently listed UK tech company
- P/E ratio: Trades at a premium to UK small-cap peers, reflecting its growth profile and brand strength
How you feel about the valuation depends on whether you believe Raspberry Pi can sustain its growth rate and expand margins as its silicon business scales. The market is pricing in significant future growth — if that growth disappoints, the share price could fall substantially.
Risks
Every stock has risks. Raspberry Pi's include:
Single-product dependency
Raspberry Pi essentially makes one thing: small, affordable computing boards based on ARM chips. There is limited product diversification. If a competitor undercuts them dramatically or a technology shift makes their approach obsolete, the entire business is affected.
ARM architecture dependency
Raspberry Pi's products are built on ARM-designed processor cores. ARM sets the licensing terms. If ARM's pricing changes significantly, or if ARM restricts access (unlikely but not impossible following the Softbank acquisition), Raspberry Pi would be affected.
Competition from ESP32 and STM32
In the microcontroller and low-end embedded space, Espressif's ESP32 and STMicroelectronics' STM32 families are strong competitors. ESP32 in particular offers Wi-Fi and Bluetooth at extremely low cost. For simple IoT applications, customers might choose ESP32 over Raspberry Pi's RP2040.
Small-cap liquidity
Raspberry Pi is a relatively small company by London Stock Exchange standards. This means the bid-ask spread can be wider than for large-caps, trading volumes can be thin on quiet days, and the share price can be more volatile on relatively small trades.
Execution risk
Growing from a niche embedded computing company into a larger platform play requires flawless execution — scaling production, expanding geographically, growing the silicon business, and maintaining the developer community. Any misstep could be punished severely by the market given the premium valuation.
How UK Investors Can Buy Raspberry Pi Shares
Because Raspberry Pi is listed on the London Stock Exchange (unlike most tech companies we write about, which are US-listed), it is available through essentially all UK brokers:
- Hargreaves Lansdown — available, standard dealing charges apply
- AJ Bell — available, from £5 per trade
- Interactive Investor — available, included in flat monthly fee
- Freetrade — available on the free plan for UK-listed stocks
- Trading 212 — check availability as LSE coverage can vary; likely available for main market stocks
You can hold Raspberry Pi shares inside a Stocks & Shares ISA, meaning any capital gains and dividends are tax-free. As a UK-listed stock, there is no foreign withholding tax to worry about (unlike US shares).
Our Honest Take
Raspberry Pi is one of the more interesting UK-listed technology companies. It has a genuine competitive moat (developer ecosystem), a growing industrial business, expanding margins from silicon sales, and strong brand recognition. The management team under CEO Eben Upton is technically excellent and has a clear long-term vision.
But it is still a single stock. A single small-cap stock. With all the concentration risk, volatility, and potential for loss that entails. If something goes wrong — a supply chain issue, a major customer loss, a technology shift — the share price could fall 30-50% in days.
FAQ
Is Raspberry Pi publicly listed?
Yes. Raspberry Pi Holdings plc (ticker: RPI) listed on the London Stock Exchange in June 2024. It trades on the main market and is accessible through most UK brokers including Hargreaves Lansdown, AJ Bell, Interactive Investor, and others.
What does Raspberry Pi actually sell?
Raspberry Pi sells single-board computers, compute modules, microcontrollers (RP2040/RP2350), and accessories. While known for hobbyist boards, approximately 70% of revenue comes from industrial and commercial customers using Raspberry Pi hardware for embedded applications, digital signage, industrial automation, and IoT devices.
How can I buy Raspberry Pi shares in the UK?
Raspberry Pi is listed on the London Stock Exchange, so it is available through most UK brokers. Hargreaves Lansdown, AJ Bell, Interactive Investor, and Freetrade all offer it. You can hold the shares inside a Stocks and Shares ISA. Check Trading 212 for availability as their LSE coverage varies.
What are the main risks of investing in Raspberry Pi?
Key risks include: single-product dependency (essentially one product family), ARM architecture dependency (relies on ARM for chip design), competition from ESP32 and STM32 in industrial IoT, small-cap liquidity meaning potentially wide bid-ask spreads, and the challenge of growing from a niche position against much larger embedded computing companies.
Is Raspberry Pi a good investment for beginners?
Raspberry Pi is an interesting UK technology company, but it is still a single stock with all the concentration risk that entails. For beginners, a diversified index fund inside an ISA spreads risk across hundreds of companies. If you do buy individual stocks, they should represent a small portion of a diversified portfolio, and you should be prepared to lose some or all of your investment.
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