In Germany we have a German edition of Make:, which is done by Heise Verlag (of c't fame), and they seem to be doing fine (and there is no VC involved). It seems they have licensed the trademark (it was called "c't hardware hacks" before) but operations are done through the Maker Media GmbH. They also organize Maker Faires all over Germany, so I guess it is possible to do this and make a profit, at least in Germany.
It sounds like the wrong type of business for receiving VC investment. Expos/conferences can make good money, but I expect it's a few magnitudes less than what an investor would want as a return. I wonder what the pitch deck looked like when they raised the investment.
https://www.heise.de/make/