Raspberry Pi boss Eben Upton said the IPO would let them double the size of their not-for-profit arm, which trains teachers, runs clubs and supports tech enthusiasts.

He said he understood why some fans of the gadget might be worried, but he promised that nothing would change in the way they make their products.

"We make what we want to buy, and then we sell them to people like us," he said. "The hobbyists are incredibly important to us."

Raspberry Pi has already raised cash from Sony and ARM, and was valued at £400 million. That could soar even higher, thanks to the success of their latest model, the Raspberry Pi 5, and the recovery from the pandemic.

Upton said the business was in a much better shape than before, when they had to pause their IPO plans because of market turmoil and supply chain issues.

He said the IPO was all about the foundation, which owns most of the business and would sell some of its shares to fund its expansion.

He said he was most excited about the opportunity to do more good with the money from the IPO.

"We do this transaction, and the proceeds of that transaction allow the foundation to ... do those things at, at least, a factor of 2X," he said.

He assured customers that there would be "no change" to the quality and affordability of their products, and that they would keep innovating.

"If people think that an IPO means we're going to ... push prices up, push the margins up, push down the feature sets, the only answer we can give is, watch us. Keep watching," he said.

"Let's look at it in 15, 20 years' time."