Simon Baker

Simon Baker is a globally recognised leader and investor in online real estate, classifieds and marketplaces, with more than 25 years in the industry. He graduated from Monash University (1988), holds an MBA from Melbourne Business School, and began his career as a management consultant at McKinsey & Co. before joining News Digital Media as Chief Business Development Officer in 2000. He is best known for his transformative run as CEO of realestate.com.au / REA Group from 2001 to 2008, where he took a struggling portal valued at roughly $8 million and grew it into a property powerhouse — annual revenue rising from about $4 million to $155 million and market capitalisation surpassing $900 million by the time of his departure in 2008.

After REA, Baker built a second career as a serial angel investor and proptech operator. He founded Classified Ad Ventures (CAV) around 2008–2009, the vehicle behind his global investing, and went on to chair a series of listed property players: iProperty Group (2009–2012, SE Asia), Mitula Group (2015–2019), and currently the PropTech Group (ASX:PTG). He is also a co-founder/partner at Fusion 4 Ventures and serves as General Partner APAC at PropTech Farm.

Beyond investing, Baker founded and runs Property Portal Watch / Online Marketplaces, the long-running industry publication and conference series (PPW conferences in Europe, APAC and elsewhere) that he has organised for over a decade — making him one of the most connected figures in the global real-estate-portal industry. He has also been a sponsor of the Genesis Growth Tech Acquisition SPAC. He is based in Monaco and invests internationally.

• Invests primarily at seed/early stage in online marketplaces, classifieds and property portals — businesses he understands deeply from operating REA Group; describes these as "not complex businesses — it's about how you execute."
• Sector lens: real estate / PropTech first, extending into FinTech, e-commerce and marketplaces, with a strong appetite for emerging markets (Latin America, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe).
• "Elevator test": founders must explain the business model, audience and revenue strategy in 15–30 seconds.
• Determination test: he deliberately doesn't return the first call — "Are they persistent? You've asked me for money. Do you actually follow up?"
• Realistic projections: dislikes hockey-stick forecasts — "lossmaking, lossmaking, then massive profit year four… It never works that way."
• The "beer test": he must genuinely enjoy spending time with the founders — "If they don't care about me as a person, are they going to care about an employee?"
• Operating philosophy he repeats to founders: "Don't let perfection get in the way of better," and avoid distraction — "it's very easy to get distracted by bright shiny lights… just focus on what you're doing."