Could Serif release a Lightroom Competitor?
According to this article, yes.
I've been using Lightroom since before version 1. It could do with some more, reasonably priced, competition.
Over the years, Adobe has added functionality and tried to force users into its subscription model by locking down the newest features to subscribers only. Unfortunately the time between major releases seems to be increasing, making the subscription model an expensive option.
Serif recently disrupted Adobe's Photoshop market with Affinity Photo. Here's hoping it can do the same for cataloging, management and processing of RAW files.