Eben Upton, the 48-year-old founder of Raspberry Pi, one of Britain's most successful listed tech companies, describes himself as an "omni-geek" during a lunch interview. The company has sold more than 75mn low-cost computers. Upton, a former Cambridge academic, co-founded the Raspberry Pi Foundation in 2008 to democratize computing. The charity has spent £112mn, putting 2.3mn young people through coding clubs and training over 250,000 teachers. Raspberry Pi's shares have risen 40.5 per cent since its 2024 London listing.

Upton's passion for geekery dates to his childhood in Papua New Guinea, where he was transfixed by a repairman fixing a ceiling fan. He later taught himself coding using a BBC Micro and Usborne books, attending a computer club in Ilkley. His interests span from Biffy Clyro to Bach, and he speaks with enthusiasm about everything from vowel pronunciation to AI's trajectory.

Despite his success, Upton remains skeptical of AI evangelists, expressing concern about "the p(doom)" — the probability of catastrophic outcomes — which he jokingly attributes to Russia. His mission is to open access to computing for everyone, balancing commercial success with philanthropic goals.