It does say in point 4 that the foundation will fund NEM Labs, unless I misunderstood.
Quote:
4. That funding the NEM Labs team will accelerate the launch of the catapult public chain. (Nearly all of the NEM Labs resources allocated to launching the catapult public chain can and will be funded by the NEM Foundation. Although certain biz-dev activities will likely be delayed, we dont view them as critical pre-launch.)
You misunderstood. That's point 4 of their rejection.
It invites them to apply as a bog standard service provider.