In both cases the developers have committed to a pretty big monthly payment for an app that serves hundreds of thousands of users. 4000USD is a huge amount and

In both cases the developers have committed to a pretty big monthly payment for an app that serves hundreds of thousands of users. 4000USD is a huge amount and even 100USD monthly is a lot to spend out of pocket without a plan to recover that money. Do they have any plan of making money out of these sites or are they purely CV/portfolio pieces?