[Edaily Marketin YunJi Kim Reporter] Cases are emerging in the global venture capital market where unlisted companies are directly purchasing shares from investors, thereby creating opportunities for intermediate exits. While secondary transactions—in which existing investors transfer their stakes to other investors—have traditionally been the primary means of exit, companies are now increasingly stepping in as buyers themselves. This trend is broadening the avenues for venture capital (VC) firms to recoup a portion of their investment even before an initial public offering (IPO) or a merger and acquisition (M&A).

According to industry sources on the 7th, smart ring company “Oura” recently filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to go public and has begun the process of listing on the U.S. stock market. Headquartered in Finland, Oura is a wearable healthcare company that was valued at $11 billion (approximately 15 trillion won) in an investment round last year involving Fidelity and others.

The market is taking note of the fact that Oura directly purchased a large portion of shares held by existing investors ahead of its IPO. By the end of June, Oura purchased approximately 27.93 million shares of convertible preferred stock held by investors from the seed round through Series C for a total of $1,091.85 million (approximately 1.4721 trillion won).

This is not the first time Oura has repurchased shares. In fiscal year 2025, the company purchased approximately $242 million worth of convertible preferred stock from existing investors. Since then, it has significantly increased the scale of its share buybacks this year; in February, it purchased approximately 1.62 million Series B preferred shares for $65 million from an affiliate of Forerunner Ventures, an early-stage investor.

In fact, Oura is not the only high-quality portfolio company to provide investors with an exit route in this manner. ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok, has been buying back its own shares from existing investors since 2023. Essentially, as the timing of its IPO has been delayed, the company has been directly providing liquidity to existing shareholders.

Typically, venture secondary transactions involve existing VCs transferring their stakes to other VCs, private equity funds (PEFs), or secondary-focused asset managers. Since this structure involves investors buying and selling shares among themselves, it was generally the case that funds from the portfolio company itself were not directly involved.

Recently, however, this dynamic has begun to shift as large unlisted companies have gained greater financial capacity. With an increasing number of companies accumulating cash through follow-on investments and improved performance, they are now able to allocate funds for growth while also using a portion to repurchase shares from existing shareholders. From the VC’s perspective, this approach offers the advantage of being able to liquidate a portion of their holdings first—without having to find a separate secondary buyer—while retaining the remaining stake.

The trend toward longer periods of remaining unlisted also supports these transactions. From the VCs’ perspective, the longer the IPO is delayed, the longer their investment capital remains tied up. Furthermore, as fund managers facing fund maturity or the formation of follow-on funds need to boost their DPI, they urgently need a channel to liquidate a portion of their stakes prior to the IPO. Companies are also seen as benefiting from this structure, as it allows them to adjust their listing timing in line with market conditions while simultaneously addressing the exit needs of early-stage investors, thereby aligning the interests of both parties.

The market anticipates that as the period of unlisted status lengthens, this demand for intermediate exits will continue. Global market research firm PitchBook noted, “Tender offers and structured secondary transactions are filling the liquidity gap that cannot be resolved through IPOs and M&A alone,” adding, “As unlisted companies grow in size and the time to listing lengthens, the secondary market is establishing itself as a major exit channel in the venture capital market, going beyond simple trading of existing shares.”