Because many of the world's most successful tech companies were conceived by college students, recent graduates or dropouts, VCs and their limited partners have long tried to find a way to tap into that youthful creativity as early as possible.

The article confirms that Spain has a number of scouts working for top Silicon Valley and European funds (Sequoia, Accel, EQT, Index, etc.), though many keep a low profile

Ten years ago, Sequoia Capital began quietly encouraging founders of its portfolio companies to consider which of their founder friends they might like to get behind financially.

Dorm Room Fund, a venture capital operation that launched to invest in student-led startups, has raised a new $10.4 million fund, per SEC filings. The filing marks Dorm Room Fund’s largest fund to date, and its first that appears to include investors beyond First Round Capital, the firm that first launched the student-focused operation in 2012.

It started as First Round Capital’s experiment. After all, founder Josh Kopelman had started his first company, Infonautics, while he was a student at the University of Pennsylvania. Partner Hayley Barna had started Birchbox while still at Harvard Business School.

Ada has ~100 “Ada Scouts” and 20 “Ada Angels,” each able to invest up to £50K in underrepresented entrepreneurs – resulting in 30% of Ada’s investments coming via scouts.

Sequoia Capital has funneled millions of dollars to scores of well-connected entrepreneurs and academics, who invest and look for ideas.

The famed scout programme from US VC firm Sequoia has launched in Europe. We meet the scouts.