If this is the rising star in your investment portfolio, you're totally right.

But if it's a sinking ship then the personal relationship might be worth more to the fund manager than trying to save it by making a small acquisition.

Honestly, like you said it all depends on the context and we're not hearing the full story.

I also wouldn't be surprised to see this more in Europe, where most of the VC funds invest government money (money from the EIB, local government funds, etc)