We're thrilled to announce that Galileo Ventures has opened an office in San Francisco, becoming the first Australian pre-seed investor to expand.

‍ “With a more than half of our portfolio already global and with follow-on funding from the likes of A16Z, Peak XV, and Insight Partners, we just felt that SF was the natural next step.”, says Hugh Stephens GP of Galileo Ventures.

We want emerging founders to have easy access to Silicon Valley, enabling them to compete and win on a global stage.

We sat down with Capital Brief to discuss the move and have included a few higlights below:

Why San Francisco?

"We strongly believe that Aussie founders shouldn't be without an Australian venture option in the Valley at the seed stages," says James Alexander, General Partner at Galileo Ventures. "I like to say we back emerging founders who view Australia as a suburb of Silicon Valley — physically far but competitively close. We are following the needs of our founders in our expansion choice."

Over the past few years, we've seen firsthand with our founders here at Galileo, how Australian founders tend to head to San Francisco early in their journey. Especially those building enterprise software and AI startups. We knew it was just an eventuality for us to have a presence in SF.

Australian Recognition in Silicon Valley

Australia now has 16 private unicorns, all competing on a global stage. The recognition of Australian tech companies in Silicon Valley has grown substantially in recent years.

"One of my tests whenever I talk to an investor here is when I meet with the fund — and I meet with a lot of them — I ask, 'What Australian companies do you know?'" shares James. "Over the last five years of coming here regularly, it's gone from, 'Oh, I know Atlassian,' to 'Oh, I know Canva.' And now it's like, 'Oh, well, I've heard of some of these other companies as well, and some of the other unicorns.'"

"I think you just really got a new cohort of really valuable private unicorns in Australia that are helping pave the way and then bring that recognition in. And so now you've got a lot more interest in our market as well."

Julia French Joins as Partner, Head of Platform

As part of our expansion, we're excited to welcome Julia French as Partner, Head of Platform and International, leading portfolio support across both regions. Julia is a "Silicon Valley OG" and brings invaluable experience from her work with companies including Dropbox, WhatsApp, and Atlassian during its US expansion and funding days. She has also spent significant time in Sydney and has strong connections to Australia's startup ecosystem through roles at the University of Technology Sydney and AirTree Ventures. We know that it's about being a part of Silicon Valley, not just visiting and sitting on the sidelines.

Continuing Our Mission

Hugh Stephens, General Partner at Galileo, emphasizes that the expansion is about continuing to "do what we do best, support exceptional emerging Australian founders, wherever they are."

With major Silicon Valley firms like Andreessen Horowitz, Peak XV and Insight Partners participating in follow-on funding for our portfolio companies, Galileo is uniquely positioned to offer founders support from investors who understand both ecosystems.

The team will be operating across Australia and San Francisco.

If you're an exceptional emerging founder expanding to SF or an Aussie in SF raising your first round, reach out or apply now for funding.

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