A photo of wads of cash spelling out the name of teenage gang "APEX" was found during a police investigation into two home invasions in south-east Melbourne, a court has heard.

A group of up to seven children and young adults broke into two homes while their occupants – a family with two children, and a group of overseas students – were sleeping in Brighton East and Ormond one night in April, the County Court heard on Thursday.

Bill Tang joined five other youths in a home invasion in East Brighton.

The photo was one of a series police found on one of the offenders' phone, which also included a photo of one of two stolen cars taken from the houses.

This emerged in a pre-sentence hearing for two of the co-offenders, Peter Paulino, 18, and Bill Tang, 19.