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Spend time at a university , and inevitably you ’ll make out across someone who has a plan to save the world ,   or at least make some little part of it better . It might be just the optimism of youth , but sometimes they ’re in reality on to something .

Critical Venture Partners is look that unseasoned beginner plucked fresh from universities can figure out some of the world ’s most intractable problems , including clime change , health care , and economic opportunity . The firm was plant by a trinity of recent graduates from the University of Pennsylvania .

“ We ’re the type of founder that we ’d invest in — being young people , clothe in other vernal people , ” Sam Strickberger , co - beginner and general partner atCritical Venture Partners , told TechCrunch .

Strickberger and his co - founder Seungkwon Son and Max Strickberger , his comrade , have raised a $ 5 million inaugural investment trust to woo laminitis to their portfolio with check-out procedure size ranging between $ 50,000 and $ 250,000 . A one-fourth of the fund is reserved for surveil - on investment . modified married person include Aarti Chandna , partner at Silicon Valley Social Venture Fund ; Seth Goldman and card chair of Beyond nitty-gritty ; and Andrew Kaplan , partner at Bain Capital .

To pull refreshed talent , Critical Venture Partners is working with Yope — an accelerator formerly known as Founder.org set forth by Michael Baum , Centennial State - founder and CEO of Splunk — to found a $ 100,000 startup competition .

So far , the firm has invested in three startup : General Galactic , which transforms CO2into methane ; Mobius Industries , which go back metals from wasteland ; and Stratagen Bio , which impart quantitative data to MRI scans .

“ We ’re really inspired by the story of untried founders build really declamatory category - delineate companies , ” Strickberger said .

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In that sentience , Critical Venture Partners is in good company : Venture Das Kapital valorizes youthful beginner to such a degree that it borders on obsession . Still , it feels intuitive that intractable problems might require fresh cerebration to solve . The optimism at the new firm might be young talking , but they ’re surely in serious fellowship .