We back emerging
founders when
others are afraid.
Pre-seed capital for emerging founders building new technology. We invest before you incorporate, write first cheques of A$200k–500k, and work alongside you through the messy early stretch — customer calls, hiring, the next round. Sydney, Melbourne and San Francisco.
Pre-seed is not a lottery ticket. It's a category. We're the firm treating it like one.
Pre-seed, not almost pre-seed.
We invest when it's two people and a thesis. Pre-incorporation counts. No data room required. If you have revenue, you're probably too late for us.
Australia to the world. Not the other way.
First AU fund to run a permanent SF arm. Your customers, your next round, your next hires — often overseas. We bridge the 14,000km so your cap table doesn't have to learn.
We have a view. Not a spray-and-pray list.
Concentrated conviction in three founder archetypes. 20–25 investments per fund. If we pass, we'll tell you why — in a paragraph, not a template.
Hands-on when it's messy. Gone when it isn't.
We participate in the fire-drills — customer calls, wages week, co-founder splits, hiring your first VP. We don't take board seats we can't add value from. No theatre.
A firm. Not a platform.
We show up in the work — customer intros, recruiting, pricing, the pre-emptive round — not through a Slack channel or a demo day. Concentrated attention on a small number of companies, so our cheque signals quality to every Series A partner in Menlo Park.
We know who we're looking for. You know if it's you.
Three archetypes. One prerequisite: you're formidable, you've earned an insight others haven't, and you can build the thing — not just sell it.
The hungry generalist.
- Young at heart, sense of urgency
- Thinks everyone on Earth needs this
- Global lens from day one
- Push shit uphill, happily
The scientific commercialiser.
- IP or novel tech needs a market
- Researcher, scientist, technologist
- Product-led, operationally involved
- Often one of a few in the world who can build it
The domain native.
- Vertical experience, about to reinvent it
- Sees the rising tide early
- Product acumen, earned insight
- Experts violently disagree. They're right anyway.
Four companies. One thesis.
We back emerging founders early — across AI, robotics, deeptech, marketplaces. Founder-led, not market-led. Here are four that tell the story.
"The AU venture stack is top-heavy and everyone knows it. Pre-seed got handed to unstructured angels. We're fixing that."
Three weeks, max. Then a real answer.
The pre-seed market runs on gatekeeping, warm intros, and ghosting. That's the bar we're beating. Here's what happens the moment you send us something.
You send us a deck.
Or a Loom. Or a one-pager. Or a cold email with a link to a working prototype. No warm intros required.
We reply.
Every pitch gets a response. If it's a no, we tell you why in plain English — not a template.
Partner meeting.
One of three partners. Not an associate. Not a screener. 45 minutes, on Zoom or in person.
We do the work.
Customer calls. Technical diligence. Reference calls with founders who've worked with us. You meet the rest of the team.
Term sheet or clear no.
Standard SAFE or priced round. A$200k–500k at pre-seed, up to A$1m at seed. Follow-on reserved for pro-rata.
Cold email is fine. Pre-incorporation is not too early. If the answer is no, you'll get it in writing with a reason. Nothing dies in a CRM.
Apply to get fundedWe write. Mostly arguments.
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1 Jan 2026Throughout 2025, our now beloved Founders Corner newsletter section featured candid conversations with our founders navigating the evolving landscape of AI, startups, and building meaningful companies. From managing teams through crisis to understanding the hidden costs of founder life, these three
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1 Dec 2025We are excited to announce our $250,000 pre-seed investment in Bugster, who are building AI Powered End-to-End Testing & QA Automation for Enterprise. Bugster saw early on that the QA (Quality Assurance)needs of large scale enterprises and SMB's would be in need of agile and robust solutions to help
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1 Dec 2025The AI World in 20252025 ushered in the new industrial revolution—VC money everywhere, semiconductors treated like oil, and every government scrambling to regulate (or exploit) the AI build-out boom. The U.S. doubled down on “American Dynamism,” pouring billions into domestic chipmaking while Austra
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1 Sep 2025We're excited to announce our $250,000 pre-seed investment in Isaacus, co-leading their $700k round alongside Aura Ventures.The Legal Industry is in a phase of growing adoption and transformation due to AI. Isaacus saw the need to go deeper to build a model trained against a true corpus, the BlackSt
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14 Jul 2025Family offices are the quiet backbone of Australian venture. Here's how to allocate to VC — what to look for, what to avoid, and the honest questions we wish every LP asked before signing.
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Fortnightly notes on the shape of pre-seed in Australia — market views, investment announcements, founder playbooks. No filler.
Three partners. No associates.
You pitch the people who write the cheque. One in Sydney, one in Melbourne, one in San Francisco. We're a firm, not a fund — building brand Galileo, not individual personal brands.
Co-founded INCUBATE — one of Australia's first university-based student startup accelerators — across five campuses, 200+ startups. Co-founded Galileo in 2020 with the thesis that Australia needed a properly institutional pre-seed firm.
Operator background at brand-name AU and US tech companies through multiple IPOs and exits — devrel, marketing, more. Leads deals across Australia and the US. Passionate about building strong communities and ecosystems — for LPs and for founders.
Galileo's clanker in chief. Co-founded Galileo in 2020 after bootstrapping Sked Social to A$6m+ ARR (BBC, Red Bull, Disney) with no venture money. Forbes 30 Under 30.
First-round exposure to emerging founders.
Galileo Ventures Fund II gives investors diversified early exposure to exceptional emerging founders building new technology companies from Australia and beyond. Fund II is currently raising from HNW individuals, family offices and former founders.
& Seed
First or second equity financing. Often before larger funds are ready.
Pre-seed. Up to A$1m at seed where it fits.
Diversified across AI, enterprise, climate, deeptech and critical tech.
Core Australia/APAC, San Francisco arm live, portfolio expanding into Europe.
Send us the thing.
Pre-incorporation is not too early. Cold email is fine. No warm intro required. We reply to every pitch.