I think you simply misread the article.

> A half hour later, he was touring a decommissioned chemical manufacturing plant that had been used to turn oil into plastics, with Chakrabarti’s father, Gopendu, a chemical engineer and entrepreneur. The hulking factory, on a 5-acre site, still had intact piping and tanks, and even boasted a 1-acre apple and pear orchard, planted by the previous owner as a carbon offset. The elder Chakrabarti swore they’d never find a better space. After touring 20 more sites over the next month, Hunt finally agreed. Solugen paid nearly $3 million for the plant.

They toured the plant with him, taking advantage of free advice from a knowledgeable, skilled person. They didn't pay him.

I don't think it's suspicious, I think it is quite commonplace for people to amplify their roadmap and accelerate their business by having a resource that other people don't have.

The possibility of an unfair advantage is how you get investors to close.

He should be compensated for that, it would be fun for it to be suspicious if we knew the cost of the other places they looked at, and if this was much more than those costs, but the mere convenience of a large transaction to the father doesn't elevate that at all. Just reminds me of the resources I would like my family and network to have to make our good ideas become more viable.