# Operate

> Operate is a VC fund in Costa Mesa backing Software and FinTech. See 26 investments, check sizes, portfolio and contact details. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: VC Fund
- Location: Costa Mesa, United States
- Total investments: 26
- Last investment: Aug 2025
- Lead investor: 19%
- Last fund: May 2021
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/operatestudio
- X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/OperateStudio
- Website: https://operatestudio.com/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/operatestudio

Operate is a new kind of startup studio that believes founders need more than capital and advice to be successful. In addition to investing capital, Operate embeds our team of top-tier operators into startups to give them a higher probability of success and help execute their vision to make a big impact on society.

## Contacts

5 contacts available for Operate. Shizune tracks 5 team members at Operate. Sign up free to unlock them: https://app.shizune.co/sign-up/investor-profiles/find-team-emails/oc4-venture-studio?utm_source=investor_profile

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Software | 8 | 31% |
| FinTech | 3 | 12% |
| Internet | 3 | 12% |
| Financial Services | 3 | 12% |
| Artificial Intelligence | 3 | 12% |

62 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pre-Seed | 14 | 54% |
| Seed | 9 | 35% |
| Convertible Note | 1 | 4% |

## Team

| Name | Title | Investments | Profile |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Carey Ransom | Founder & President | 22 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/carey-ransom |
| Jason Whitt | General Partner Operate \| President Bonus | 1 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/jason-whitt-2 |
| Ken Lian | Founder | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/runxiong-lian |
| Doug Kilponen | Vice President | 1 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/doug-kilponen |
| Lou Sokolovskiy | Venture Partner | 0 | https://shizune.co/investors/profile/lou-sokolovskiy |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Bonus Homes | Bonus Homes offers a home equity solution that delivers immediate funds while enabling homeowners to share in their property’s future value. It presents a cash payout of full home equity, without listing the home, paired with retention of ownership and preservation of low mortgage rates. The company manages and maintains the property, coversrelated expenses, and distributes a share of any appreciation when the home is eventually sold or bought back after a holding period. The model aims to empower homeowners to access liquidity now and benefit financially down the line, while simplifying the process with no staging, showings, or need for a buyer. | $65.5M | Seed | Aug 19, 2025 |  |
| Bevz | Bevz is on a mission to power the snack and drink industry at a hyper local level, through convenience stores. Our SaaS platform helps convenience stores stock the products their customers want, and easily sell those products in-store and across multiple e-commerce channels. | $3.3M | Convertible Note | Apr 01, 2023 |  |
| Kitchen Data Systems | KitchData has built a nation-wide network that empowers restaurants to save on supplies costs & delivery-1st brands management. KitchData does this through its three distinct and complentary product verticals: KitchPartner Network, KitchSavers, and BrandBuilder. | $1.8M | Pre-Seed | Dec 19, 2022 |  |
| Knit | Knit pairs forward-deployed researchers with autonomous research agents to deliver decision-ready insights faster and better than traditional agencies, unlocking entirely new ways for the world's most iconic enterprises to run research. | $3.6M | Seed | Jun 13, 2022 |  |
| Souq G-Commerce | Souq is lowering the barriers to access and participate in GameFi. We're building the infrastructure powering community-owned financial markets where players can thoughtfully invest in the games they love. | $3.3M | Pre-Seed | Jun 06, 2022 |  |
| Ramped | Ramped is a job-skilling platform for early-career professionals. | $3.1M | Seed | Mar 22, 2022 |  |
| Mustard | Mustard.love helps local and multi-location brands turn community trust into measurable growth. Our platform uses hyper-local micro and nano influencers, combined with performance data, to drive real foot traffic, orders, and ROI—not just impressions. | $2M | Pre-Seed | Nov 09, 2021 |  |
| Short Story | Short Story is a personal styling service for petite women. We curate petite-friendly, high quality boxes of styles by listening to what our clients want. We believe petite women should have the same great shopping experience as everyone else--no compromises on fit, style, or quality. Our mission is to help her find fit, discover new trends, andevolve her personal style. We want her to feel and look fabulous, so she has more time to do what she loves. | $2.9M | Seed | Sep 01, 2021 |  |
| Torpago | Torpago is a financial technology company that provides corporate cards equipped with spend management software. With Torpago, employees can have the ability to spend as needed while finance departments and management can set appropriate controls.The company's mission is to empower employees and enable businesses to work more efficiently.Torpago was founded to simplify corporate expenses. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California. | $2M | Pre-Seed | Aug 05, 2021 |  |
| Torpago | Torpago is a financial technology company that provides corporate cards equipped with spend management software. With Torpago, employees can have the ability to spend as needed while finance departments and management can set appropriate controls.The company's mission is to empower employees and enable businesses to work more efficiently.Torpago was founded to simplify corporate expenses. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California. | $2M | Seed | Aug 05, 2021 |  |

10 of 26 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Hustle Fund](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/hustle-fund) — VC Fund, 6 deals together
- [Everywhere Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/everywhere-ventures) — VC Fund, 4 deals together
- [Wedbush Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/wedbush-ventures) — VC Fund, 3 deals together
- [Alumni Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/alumni-ventures-group) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Amplify.LA](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/amplify-la) — VC Fund, 2 deals together
- [Bossa Invest](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/bossanova-investimentos) — VC Fund, 2 deals together

## Similar investors

### Similar stage
- [Antler](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/antler-be9c) — VC Fund
- [Right Side Capital Management](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/right-side-capital-management) — VC Fund
- [Everywhere Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/everywhere-ventures) — VC Fund

## FAQ

### What does Operate invest in?

Operate invests primarily in Software, FinTech and Internet startups, most often at Pre-Seed and Seed stage. Most of the 26 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in United States. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### How do I contact Operate?

Public channels for Operate include LinkedIn, X (Twitter) and the website linked on this profile. For a verified work email and phone number, create a free Shizune account — contact data is searched across 20+ sources and validated before delivery, so your outreach lands in the right inbox.

### Who are the partners at Operate?

The team at Operate includes Carey Ransom (Founder & President), Jason Whitt (General Partner Operate | President Bonus) and Ken Lian (Founder). The Team section lists each member with their title, investment count and links.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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