They thought they could raise the money once they had the portfolio.
I'd wager approximately zero. There is more to the above story. As described, these VC's wasted tons of their own time. How did they even have offices?
An example: say you acquire a company worth $10m and have no money in the bank. You could pay 50% of it in stock ("you'll be part of an amazing growth story, and the $5m stock you get today will be worth $50m in 5 to 10 years") and then go borrow $5m from a bank (or go through an equity investor) to fund the other 50% of the acquisition price. But often you'll need a binding LoI to get a loan.
Doesn't always work, but if you're someone who is well connected then it's quite doable. I've seen it done.
Another person that comes to mind is David Baazov: https://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanvardi/2014/12/01/the-king.... He aligned things well and put deals together, and ended up making a ton of money because of it.
Perhaps these VCs were expecting money to come in but in the end their fund fell apart?
OP said "had no money raised but signed $11.5MM in investments with startups". maybe they mispoke.