Announcing Galileo Fund II Expansion

We’re proud to announce the first close of Galileo Ventures Fund II ‘Expansion’ doubling down on backing the top emerging founders at pre-seed to seed stage building new technology in global markets.

We believe there’s never been a better time to start a company and we’re proud to be the first Australian seed VC firm that has offices in Australia and San Francisco as we expand our presence to better support our founders.

“It is the greatest privilege to be among the first backers of exceptional emerging founders, and to support them as they build and grow. The opportunity to do this again with Fund II—supported by the trust of our incredible existing and new LPs—is a testament to the calibre of founders and the ambition of the technologies being built in Australia for the world. There’s never been a better time to be in venture than this pivotal moment in history.”
–– James Alexander, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Galileo Ventures

Fund II will double down on backing emerging founders with $250–500k at pre-seed and up to $1m at seed while looking to back the top founders primarily across Australia and in the Bay Area.

Our thesis is similar to Fund I — we focus on the founders, not markets — and we invest across sectors including AI, software, hardware and deeptech, and love to back ambitious founders creating entirely new categories, like companion robotics with Andromeda, AI agents with Relevance AI, or a new type of electric motor with Kite Magnetics. We’re not afraid to go early.

“After the success of Fund I I’m excited to keep working alongside ambitious founders building new technology. Thanks to our cornerstone LP Innovation Victoria for joining us for Fund II EXPANSION along with our other investors, big and small.”
–– Hugh Stephens, Co-Founder and Partner, Galileo Ventures

Australia is poised to win a large sector of this next Technology Boom. The way we support founders early and how we provide returns to LPs is to ensure we have both sides of the fence covered off. That means first cheque in, regardless of geolocation — we should not miss a unicorn because we weren’t where they were, and we should not fail to exit the next big hit because we are not where we need to be. Fund II EXPANSION addresses this.
–– Julia French, Partner, Galileo Ventures

Fund II sees us expand our investors or limited partners (LPs), with many re-joining from Fund I and new LPs joining from around the world from Australia, Singapore and the US.

We’re proud to be cornerstoned by Innovation Victoria; helping to strengthen the innovation ecosystem in Victoria is one of our core pillars, with nearly 40% of our portfolio based in VIC.

They are joined by leading investors including Brad Feld and Michael Donohue from the US, Andy Hamilton from NZ, and Australian LPs including Artesian, Nicola Kaldor of Lorne Capital and Jackson Zeng.

We’re proud to have supported Galileo’s growth and congratulate the team on their first close. Innovation Victoria’s role is to help strengthen the innovation ecosystem, from supporting founders and emerging technologies through to attracting capital and building investment capability. Our investment in funds like Galileo Ventures is a key part of that work, helping connect ambitious founders with the capital, expertise and networks they need to scale.
–– Rod Bristow, CEO, Innovation Victoria

In Fund I we backed 25 companies in four years with follow-on investments from some of the top VCs around the globe. Some of the breakout companies we’ve backed include Andromeda Robotics, Relevance AI, Tixel, SyncTech and Kite Magnetics.

The Galileo team lives and breathes the early ‘messy’ stages of founding startups. Supporting ambitious founders to build new categories is all we do.

The team consists of three Partners based across Sydney, Melbourne and San Francisco: James Alexander, Co-founder and Managing Partner; Hugh Stephens, Co-founder and General Partner; and Julia French, Partner.

Emerging founder raising capital? We can’t wait to meet you! Please submit your deck today and apply here. No intros needed, feedback to all.

If you’re an investor that wants access to the top founders in the earliest rounds across multiple sectors before other investors see them, get in touch.