They invest in opportunities to build portfolios that provide a reward/risk ratio and performance/risk characteristics that are appealing to their LPs. If they

They invest in opportunities to build portfolios that provide a reward/risk ratio and performance/risk characteristics that are appealing to their LPs. If they don't, they don't survive. They aren't charities investing in things society doesn't know it needs, they're investment vehicles geared towards providing exposure to high risk/high reward early stage private investments. Some of them have a social impact angle, and those funds are different by nature due to the demands of their LPs, but it doesn't make sense to pretend this is about anything other than profit on a given timescale.