diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index ad670429..2c6ea835 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ find_package (PkgConfig REQUIRED)
 
 # force a libmraa search and minimum required version every time a config is generated
 unset(MRAA_FOUND CACHE)
-pkg_check_modules (MRAA REQUIRED mraa>=0.7.5)
+pkg_check_modules (MRAA REQUIRED mraa>=0.8.0)
 message (INFO " found mraa version: ${MRAA_VERSION}")
 
 # Appends the cmake/modules path to MAKE_MODULE_PATH variable.