It is, but gated gambling (accredited investor requirements) and you get something fun to talk about at parties and online (versus degenerate options trading or horse racing, which is out of vogue).

There's an argument that most forms of investing are some form of gambling, depending on how you define it. If you take gambling as "staking money on an outcome you don't control," perhaps.

It really depends on your financial situation and what you enjoy; for some spending $$$ on startups is much more entertaining than spending similar amounts traveling to see professional sports. Hell, some may spend the money and count it well spent "just to be in the front-row seats at the game" (e.g., learning all the things startups are doing) - even if they never make back any of it.

In which case even a partial return is better than nothing.