Want to buy a new stock at the initial public offering price? It used to be something largely reserved for top clients of big investment banks. But retail investors are gaining more ways to request IPO shares. The upcoming Oura IPO is the latest example.

Coinbase customers will have the opportunity to buy shares of the smart ring maker at its IPO price ahead of its expected debut during the week of September 28. Coinbase said in a blog post Monday that "eligible customers can request shares at the offer price before open-market trading starts." Oura is planning to sell 50 million shares at a price range of $40 to $44.

Robinhood is getting a piece of the Oura action too. The brokerage firm is a co-manager of Oura's offering, joining underwriters including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and JPMorgan Chase.

Robinhood's involvement in the Oura IPO comes just three months after the company and fellow fintech SoFi were given allocations of SpaceX shares at the IPO price along with Fidelity, Morgan Stanley's E-Trade unit and Charles Schwab.

Fintechs are likely to become an even more important part of the IPO process for retail investors. Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said in a post on X in June before SpaceX's IPO that "we've watched retail go from an afterthought to a key part of how companies plan an IPO."

"The question changed from 'why allocate to retail at all?' to 'how big can the allocation be?' Becoming an underwriter, and not just a selling group member, is the natural next step to better serve our customers," Tenev added.

Brett Tejpaul, co-CEO of Coinbase Institutional, said in an interview with Barron's that the company's participation in IPOs is the next step in what Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong has often described as an evolution toward making Coinbase an "everything exchange" rather than just a place to buy and sell cryptocurrencies.

Tejpaul added that Coinbase hopes to be involved with other high-profile IPOs in the future that appeal to retail investors, particularly the younger, digitally native users on its platform. Tejpaul wouldn't name names, but AI companies such as Anthropic and OpenAI could be attractive candidates if they pursue IPOs.

"We hope to be involved even more in the future IPO pipeline. Issuers are interested in cultivating this younger demographic," he said. "We expect our name to feature more prominently in investment banker and company conversations."

The fact that retail brokerages are becoming a bigger part of the IPO allocation process could help limit early trading volatility in offerings like Oura's. That's because many of these firms discourage investors from selling IPO shares soon after they begin trading.

"Given that Robinhood, SoFi and Coinbase discourage flipping through restrictions of future IPO access, it may have some effect on how [Oura] stock trades in the short-run," said Josef Schuster, founder of IPOX Schuster, a research firm with an IPO index that is tracked by the First Trust US Equity Opportunities ETF.

Companies like Coinbase and Robinhood are betting that users will welcome the opportunity to buy a stock like Oura at the offering price instead of chasing it after it begins trading. Still, it remains to be seen whether the increased clout of Coinbase and Robinhood in the IPO process will generate a significant new revenue stream for the companies.

Both have lagged behind the broader stock market this year, in part because of volatility in the crypto market. Coinbase shares are down nearly 14% this year while Robinhood shares are up just 5.5%. The S&P 500 has gained 13%.

Greater access to buzzy IPOs could benefit retail investors. It just may not be enough to turn the fortunes of fintechs around anytime soon.