Lots of the claims made by startups to VCs would be considered fraud if they were ever tried in court, which they aren’t because starting such a lawsuit would be terrible for the VC, and the VCs weren’t really defrauded because they correctly understood the claims to be highly exaggerated. The difference here is in cultural standards for what it means for a startup’s claims to be true.
Most of the time they're more "aims" than "claims", are they not? Startups want to capture x% of a market, and they'll say they think they can do it, but probably won't make it sound like they're actually guaranteeing it.
Maybe I'm missing something about startup claims that are actually fraudulent, rather than hopelessly optimistic.
Lots of kids have plans to become pro athletes and almost all fail, but that doesn't mean all those plans were nonsense to begin with.