As just about everyone should know by now (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Social_Network), the seeds of what grew into Facebook were planted at Harvard. Might there be a bunch of mini-Zucks lurking in the dorms of Cambridge? If so, a new venture capital firm — the first housed right on the Harvard campus — wants to find them.
Dubbed The Experiment Fund (http://experimentfund.com/), the firm describes itself as "a bridge between America's oldest universities and storied venture capital firms." Backed by New Enterprise Associates (http://www.nea.com/) (NEA), the firm is made up of Hugo Van Vurren (http://www.crunchbase.com/person/hugo-van-vuuren), NEA co-head Patrick Chung (http://www.crunchbase.com/person/patrick-chung), and NEA General Partner Harry Weller (http://www.crunchbase.com/person/harry-weller) — all of whom have a degree of some form from the school.
When I say it's "right on the Harvard campus", I'm not kidding — it's going to be based out of 33 Oxford Street, which is Harvard's School Of Engineering And Applied Sciences. It's a bit more than a stone's throw from Harvard Yard. With that said, the fund operates with complete independence from the university.
And if you're not a Harvard student? Don't sweat it too much. The fund says they're open to anyone, "regardless of university affilation, nationality, age, or prior experience." Being a Harvard student (or at least a Cambridge local) probably wouldn't hurt, though.
While it seems the size of the fund isn't set in stone yet (or at least, it wasn't disclosed — I'll look into it. Update: they're not setting a cap at this point), the team says they expect to seed "several" companies with up to $250k each over the next two years.
TechCrunch