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Because they have a LOT of money. Like over $100,000,000,000 to invest https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-20/japan-s-s... . They don't have time /resources to hand out $20k investments to the future Zuckenbergs and guide them through, so the invest in what seems like a sure thing.

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To elaborate on that a bit, I think your comment begs the question of "Well then why don't they fund 100 YCs and take the hit from a middleman?"

To which the answer is probably "There aren't 100 YCs worth of good ideas + support resources / networking opportunities out there."

It might even be that there aren't 100 YCs worth of people good at making YC-style bets.

That too! My initial idea was "There aren't enough startups out there to YC", which led me to "That's why YC tries to boost yield by enabling marginal startups to succeed via office hours and support", which led me to "But the system as a whole probably has limited resources suitable for support."

Maybe they could invest in an existing accelerator.

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