[nubela]

By your definition, most state venture-funds are born to die. What you are describing is a structural issue, which while plausible, is not definitive the structure that a state VC will wield. Some very good examples of state VCs that did not fall into this trip are Temasek/GIC from my country (Singapore), as well as that of Norway. And yes, Termasek have a VC that does tech fundings too. They recently funded Snapchat.

[Pro_bity]

I would exclude from this explanation, state funded VCs or sovereign wealth funds that invest in later stages. They are most commonly investing for strategic reasons or just piling onto an already established leader.