Nobody is making startups apply Keiretsu, and if Y-Combinator and Jason won't invest in your startup what's wrong with deciding to pay to let Keiretsu consider funding you? Better a startup pays some money and has a least one company consider their application than nobody does.
There are plenty of people that play the lottery, and there are plenty of people that don't. Some see trouble and loss where others see a chance.
So, feel free to approach Keiretsu with your idea now, since they've stopped charging, you really can't lose.
Or do you think that maybe since they did this in the past they might have a little ethical problem somewhere ?
If Jason Calacanis fails with 37 Signals and all he does is keep the VC world on their toes he's got my vote.
It's like banking, if banks started charging you a $500 application fee for a $10000 loan, how would you feel ? What if they charged you the fee anyway even if they declined you ?
Why would they ever grant a loan then, after all there is more profit in getting people to apply endlessly and every now and the at random approve a loan to keep them hopeful.
Because once people realised that no more loans were being given out they would stop applying to banks that didn't give out loans. The same thing will happen to Keiretsu if they never funded anyone.
I haven't seen them publish any hard statistics, so how can a group know if it's just them that got rejected for funding, or if it's pretty much everyone who applies?
Investors, on the other hand, play the game more regularly. It's impossible to keep the information from them long term. If they had to pay to come, they would need to be finding good investments. Startups don't have this feedback, at least not without things like public complaints.