Comment by OneDeuxTriSeiGo

In this case the VC in question is funding various atproto projects as they are one of the primary backing VCs for Bluesky.

So even if they don't expect returns from a given atproto project, they are investing money (and therefore funding FTEs) in the ecosystem at large.

The investment isn't necessarily in any one of these projects in isolation. It's in the AT protocol at large.