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Go ahead and try it, I assure you that will be the end of your job there. Listen to others here, just leave. You will not break into that fuct up situation, you cannot improve it, no one will listen to you, and if you blow the whistle you'll be done.
Well this isn't about my job. I didn't mention once the problem was me losing my job or anything.
My gut reaction is no. It does sound like a dumpster fire so I would leave. You feel a moral obligation to inform investors which is good but be open to the possibillity that there's more going on than you are aware of so things might not be as black & white as they appear in practical and moral terms.
But as others here wrote, if the investor mentions the email to the CEO, it might trigger a witch hunt of who the whistleblower is. OP could say "I'm a former employee of [company]" and it would take the heat off people currently working there.
Imo, the good first step is to contact a layer with relevant expertise and consult what your steps should be. So that you don't accidentally break law or otherwise get yourself in trouble, so that your whistleblowing way is most solid possible and so that you don't accidentally out yourself.
The layer can also help you figure out what is actual fraud and what is not.
What's stopping you from working another job at the same time? It sounds like there isn't much work to be done and even if you are found out I don't think they have enough motivation to care.
I would just find another job, let them crash and burn on their own
Well this is another discussion. I can do just that separately. But it doesn't seem fair to the employees who stay and believe the company's vaporware of making value and have their equity worth millions in an indefinite future time?
If there is litterally not a single line of code in 10 years and nobody does anything all day but drink kombucha and play foosball then they already know...
It's literally the investors' job to have figured this out
It seems obvious to me that VC is part of the scam
>>> Should I anonymously inform investors that my startup employer is a scam, and if yes, how should I approach it?
I wouldn't but, if you decide to inform don't report to the VC, but the people/entities above this VC (could be another VC, funds, physical persons, etc).
Just be careful, it seems that you are looking through a very narrow window here.