The company officially landed its , joining a syndicate of 18 institutions listed on smart-ring maker Oura's recent S-1 filing.
While Wall Street giants like Goldman Sachs (), Morgan Stanley (), and JPMorgan Chase () are acting as lead bookrunners, the inclusion of Robinhood (No. 18 on the underwriting list) gives it stronger leverage over share allocations for its massive retail trading user base.
"We want to do more," Robinhood co-founder and CEO Vlad Tenev told Yahoo Finance from the Goldman Sachs Communacopia & Tech Conference (video above). "I think as an underwriter we'll really be able to represent retail and be in the room in a big way, which will hopefully lead to bigger allocations. "
"We have been offering retail investors access to IPOs for many years now," Tenev added. "It's always been as what's called a selling group member. What that means is we're distributing shares on behalf of the underwriters, so we're not really in the room advocating for retail to get a bigger slice of the pie. "
"When we got approved to serve as an underwriter, that changed," Tenev said. "And we said, we intend to be disruptive in the space because fundamentally, you look at the IPO process, and I think there's a lot that can be improved. Even from the issuer standpoint, you don't have a ton of visibility as to the demand, the price elasticity at different IPO prices. And I think through our work and IPO access, I think we've had a very, very unique view and a data-driven approach to answering some of these questions. "
Tenev stopped short of promising an underwriting position on an upcoming hot IPO like Anthropic ().
"Obviously, I can't make any promises," Tenev said. "You should know that we're working hard across the board, making sure people are aware of our offerings and the advantages that we bring. "
Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor, host of the 'Power Players With Brian Sozzi' podcast and a member of Yahoo Finance's editorial leadership team. Follow Sozzi on X @BrianSozzi, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Tips on stories? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.
Click here for in-depth analysis of the latest stock market news and events moving stock prices
Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance
