HUMBL Inc (HMBL)

[trader59]

Venture capitalists provide capital to businesses for growth and get equity, interest, or some other sort of return on their investment. They don't buy stock on the open market from other retail investors, they're just plain old retail investors when/if they do that, provides nothing to the company.
And "big players" buying stock and borrowing stock (with associated fees) to short would be stupid, especially for your suggested purpose of keeping the PPS down. If you think that's happening, seriously, look into CD's, still paying pretty good these days.