They spent $6MM on infrastructure pre-revenue. The investors didn't pull the plug anywhere nearly fast enough.
$6m in 3 years isn't high at all. Lots of little pre-revenue start-ups have sold for more with many fewer assets than it sounds like this company has. Google's first big round was $25m IIRC, and that was pre-keyword advertising; and by today's standards that's a tiny amount. Good thing its investors didn't panic and pull the plug.