February 2026

You spent many years as a Portfolio Manager before joining Raspberry Pi in early 2024, including running an IPO-focused fund from 2017–2023. How has the Portfolio Manager role and its challenges evolved over the past five years, and what lessons have recent IPO cycles taught you?

It has definitely become harder as an active portfolio manager. The structural shift to passive, the concentrated dominance of big tech, rising geopolitical risk, and four consecutive years of material outflows from UK equity funds have all weighed heavily on valuations, resulting in increased M&A activity and reduced IPO activity. This has made it harder for quality businesses to achieve fair value and scale in public markets.

What really concerns me is the imbalance: 86 companies have left the UK market over the last two years, representing £87 billion of exit value, yet there have been only nine IPOs above £100 million market cap over the same period; a net reduction of 77 listed companies. A shrinking opportunity set inevitably makes the job of an active manager harder. We need a stronger pipeline of high-quality businesses to replace those exits.

However, it is also critical to avoid repeating the IPO mistakes of 2021. For my last seven years on the buy side, I ran a dedicated ECM fund, focused primarily on IPOs. The 2021 vintage, in hindsight, had almost everything wrong: too many deals, accelerated timetables, cornerstones that were too large, compressed due diligence, stretched valuations with insufficient price discovery, and a heavy skew towards short-term COVID beneficiaries and digital platforms. Equity stories were often built around peak conditions rather than sustainable earnings power.

Five years on, the market is still digesting that cohort. A large proportion remain below issue price, and we are seeing take privates and trade sales clearing at material discounts to IPO valuations. Darktrace is a rare exception. It underlines how critical the correct equity story and valuation discipline are if we want a healthy listed environment that enables companies to scale and remain in the UK.

Given your experience investing in major IPOs and acting as the internal IPO adviser at Raspberry Pi plc, what do you see as the most exciting opportunities for companies thinking about going public in today’s market?

First, it helps retain and attract talent by creating momentum and positivity across the business.

Second, it provides access to capital; we raised $40 million in primary proceeds whilst also strengthening our financing relationships with commercial banks.

Third, and most importantly for me, the listing significantly enhanced our profile and brand awareness. In September 2024, we launched Project Board to Board at Raspberry Pi to strengthen links between our engineering expertise and board-level decision-makers across global industrial and embedded sectors. Our engagement with CTOs at over 20 major UK industrial companies highlighted an opportunity to raise Raspberry Pi’s C-suite visibility. There is simply no way we could have achieved that level of access, exposure, and brand recognition without the IPO.

On the flip side, many companies underestimate how much preparation, stakeholder alignment, and internal organisation go into a successful IPO. From your experience with Raspberry Pi plc, what are the biggest practical and strategic challenges companies face during this process, and how can they navigate them effectively?

First and foremost, the equity story must reflect management’s own view rather than what advisers think investors want to hear. The narrative outlined at IPO shapes market perceptions and early performance, so owning it from the top is essential. This was a key lesson from the 2021 IPO vintage.

Alignment across all stakeholders, from management, the board, advisers, to investors, is equally critical. Everyone must be clear on the size and allocation of the raise, valuation, timing, and target investor base. Inconsistent expectations can derail deals, as we have seen elsewhere. Fortunately, we had a great stakeholder with the Raspberry Pi Foundation. Understanding the investor landscape well before entering a formal process is also essential. Non deal roadshows allow companies to identify who truly understands the story, secure value-added feedback, and build relationships with long-term owners of the business. We benefited greatly from this approach on the Raspberry Pi IPO. Exploring all investor options is also important, from strategic and retail investors to ESG-focused, helps maximise value and reduce reliance on any single segment.

Companies must also ensure their internal organisation is ready for the IPO process. Bottlenecks inevitably arise in finance and legal teams, so appointing a project lead internally and at each adviser, establishing a steering committee, and running structured weekly meetings is crucial to keeping the timetable on track.

The preparation itself is intensive. Dozens of documents, regulatory filings, and management roadshows require significant time commitment, as we discovered on the Raspberry Pi IPO. An IPO is not for the faint hearted! Procedures to access key business information quickly are essential, particularly as some workstreams, such as regulatory approvals, can take longer than expected. Leadership strength and board depth are also vital for investor confidence and managing operational demands. Finally, the business cannot pause during the process. Management must continue delivering on guidance and positioning the company to meet the equity story.

Taken together, these challenges highlight that a successful IPO is as much about preparation, alignment, and organisational discipline as it is about market timing or valuation.

What do you think the impact of the AI SaaS sell-off will have on software companies looking to trade sale or list on public markets?

I first became aware of the impact of AI-driven SaaS concerns during late summer 2025 when the latest iterations of Gemini and Claude were released, and the perceived threat to SaaS models became evident for the first time in investors’ minds. I suspect that triggered portfolio reviews within private equity-owned portfolio companies and a sudden loss of visibility, leading to reduced private equity engagement in software trade sales from the autumn.

We have seen a similar dynamic in the listed software space globally since the start of the year. The immediate impact of the AI SaaS sell-off will be felt most acutely in IPO markets, particularly for companies without clear scale or network effects. Investors are now viewing all software assets through an explicit AI lens, which will contribute to IPO delays. Businesses that appear code-heavy, workflow-light, or lacking a credible AI strategy face greater scrutiny on growth durability and terminal value.

It is staggering to read that Anthropic’s Claude Cowork went from initial concept to preview release in roughly ten days, with most of the code generated by Claude Code itself. For software investors, these releases create enormous uncertainty and very limited visibility into how AI driven development will affect incumbent players. As the investor base grows more cautious, the path to taking a new software company public will become more difficult.

That said, I suspect the market reaction may be running ahead of fundamentals for established B2B software leaders. From my old investing days, incumbents typically navigate platform shifts by adopting new technologies, leveraging workflow stickiness, and benefiting from high switching costs. Code represents only a small part of enterprise software value, which is rooted in data, integrations, compliance, and embedded processes. Disruption tends to occur when incumbents resist change or misread user behaviour, not simply because technology improves. Well-managed companies that integrate AI effectively are more likely to strengthen their moats than lose them.

In the near term, I’d argue that valuations will remain compressed and software IPO windows constrained with this revised visibility from AI. Over the medium term, I expect the market to reward incumbents that adapt decisively rather than see a wholesale collapse of listed enterprise software.

---

Please note: The views and opinions expressed in this interview are those of the individual financial professional(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of Alma Strategic. These insights are provided for informational purposes only and may not be relevant at the time of reading, as market conditions can change rapidly. The information provided should not be construed as investment advice or a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any financial product or security. Individuals should conduct their own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions. Alma Strategic disclaims any responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of the information provided in this interview.