It's the other side of the quasi-doublespeak that looks at raises and new divisions and side projects as "investments". They're going to spend $100M this year that they can't easily get back, so it's a fair way to put it.
Everything the business does is finding investments to spend their money on.
SPEND in this case means essentially what their budget is for the group, while INVEST would be a smaller portion (essentially, the budgeted spend minus overhead).
Merely asking and answering the question "Who should we invest in?" takes a considerable amount of money by itself.
That $100M clearly is dominated by the capital that is to be invested. The use of the verb "spend" is perhaps a slip indicating an opinion on the chance of positive ROI...
"The company is spending about $100 million annually on the funding of startups, he said."
"All told, Dell Technologies Capital has invested in more than 70 startups. It puts in around $3 million to $10 million initially and usually in the A or B rounds, Darling said. The company provides more money in later rounds."
If your investment team that answers the question "Who should we invest in?" is consuming $100M itself... I need to change jobs.
After reading the article they do make investments but it seems like if you partner with Dell they would offer parts of the ecosystem or consulting experience. So spend would be not only investments but also technologies or expertise.
