Meet the team
Three partners backing emerging founders from Sydney, Melbourne and San Francisco, writing first cheques since 2020.
Our manifesto
A revolution in entrepreneurship is underway.
For the first time in history, an entrepreneur anywhere in the world can build a global business with just an internet connection and an idea.
We believe the emerging founder — the unproven, scrappy and overlooked entrepreneur — fuelled by new technology, will build the market leaders of the future.
The world's next defining companies will come from our emerging founders.
Four things we hold to.
They are the filter on every cheque we write, and the reason founders can predict how we will behave once we have written it.
Trust in founder vision
A small group of founders with a strong vision creates powerful change.
Technology for the greater good
Bringing to market new technology for the ultimate benefit of humanity, not just a few.
Investing for the whole journey
It takes (a long) time to build an impactful business, and we're along for the journey.
Great teams powered by strong businesses
Good ideas need great teams and high performing business models that ensure they thrive and grow.
Meet the Partners.
Pitch a decision maker.
James Alexander
The AU venture stack is top-heavy. Pre-seed got handed to unstructured angels. We're fixing that.
James is a co-founder of Galileo with a breadth of experience sourcing and supporting startups. He supports the portfolio, including as Board Observer for Relevance AI, and has backed more than 25 companies across AI, robotics, deeptech and software in Australia and the United States.
Before Galileo, James founded INCUBATE at the University of Sydney — Australia's first multi-university startup program — and expanded it to five universities, supporting entrepreneurs to launch over 200 startups, from underwater robotics to flying taxis. He was previously an engineer at several startups, including Atlassian pre-VC funding, and studied Computer Science (Honours) at the University of Sydney.
James's superpower is the depth of his experience supporting hundreds of founders, having seen everything.
- Role
- Managing Partner
- Based
- Sydney / San Francisco
Hugh Stephens
I'm always excited to work alongside founders in the early messy days.
Hugh is a co-founder of Galileo and the rare investor who has actually run payroll. He fell into business while studying medicine at Monash, started Schedugram as a scrappy Instagram scheduling tool in 2013, and grew it — rebranded as Sked Social — into a profitable platform used by more than 10,000 brands, from corner cafés to Disney, Red Bull and the BBC. All of it bootstrapped, without a dollar of venture capital.
He was an angel investor before Galileo, was previously in management consulting and at a number of post-Series-A startups in Melbourne, and advises across the portfolio including Tixel and as Board Observer for Zendir. He is a Forbes 30 Under 30 Asia recipient and a two-time SmartCompany Hot 30 Under 30.
Hugh's superpower is his ability to speak founder, and to connect with founders on a deep personal level.
- Role
- General Partner
- Based
- Melbourne
- Elsewhere
- X
Julia French
Don't try to be something you are not, just be yourself. People can respect that.
Julia is a Partner at Galileo. She joined the firm in late 2024 as first head of platform, being promoted to partner at the end of 2025. She is a Silicon Valley veteran who has deep personal ties to Australia.
She has had the privilege of working directly with the founders of several top Valley and Australian unicorns — Atlassian, Dropbox, WhatsApp — along with top venture firms like AirTree and Sequoia. She has personally invested in over 125 startups and was the Course Director/Senior Lecturer in the Transdisciplinary School at UTS, the University of Technology Sydney. She enjoys unicorn hunting and supporting founders to achieve their personal ambitions.
- Role
- Partner
- Based
- Sydney / San Francisco
- Elsewhere
So, what are you waiting for?
Pre-incorporation is not too early. Cold email is fine. No warm intro required. Start a conversation and hear back from a partner within a week, whatever the answer.