I think that they spotted a way to sweeten the deal by making early vestors that had already left the company pay for it.

Typical account thinking.

Pro tip: stay away from VCs run by accountants or lawyers, always go for the ones run by entrepreneurs.

Ok, I will say this: this was a former entrepreneur at a very high profile perceived-brand-as-tier-1 guy running the independent capital investment arm of a very high profile company.

Ugh. Makes you wonder how the early hires in his company made out.