# Matt Barba

> Matt Barba is the co-founder and CEO of Placester, a Boston-based SaaS platform that gives real estate agents and brokers websites, IDX/MLS integration, CRM, and marketing automation. He started coding as a kid, worked as a Boston real estate agent while at BU, built a widely used WordPress real estate plugin called Builder, and launched Placester in 2011 with CTO Frederick Townes. The company raised roughly $115M across rounds from NEA, Romulus Capital, and Techstars. Barba appeared on the Swanepoel POWER 200 list of top real estate industry leaders in 2015, 2016, and 2017.

- **Role:** Co-Founder and CEO at Placester
- **Organizations:** Placester, Modern Real Estate (Allston, MA), Techstars (alum)
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S., Business Administration / Finance, Boston University (Questrom School of Business)
- **Known for:** Co-founded Placester and grew it into a real estate SaaS platform serving agents, brokers, and brands, Raised roughly $115M in total funding for Placester across seed to Series D, Built Builder, described as the most widely used real estate plugin on WordPress

## Career timeline

- **2008** — Obtains real estate license and begins working as an agent in Boston while at Boston University
- **2009** — Graduates from Boston University with a bachelor's in Finance
- **2009-2010** — Works at Modern Real Estate in Allston, MA; builds Builder, a widely used WordPress real estate plugin
- **2011** — Co-founds Placester in January with CTO Frederick Townes
- **2011** — Placester goes through Techstars; raises $1M seed after program
- **2015** — Named to the Swanepoel POWER 200 list of top real estate industry leaders
- **2016** — Named to Swanepoel POWER 200 again
- **2017** — Placester closes Series D of roughly $50M; Barba on SP200 for the third year

## Achievements

- Co-founded Placester and grew it into a real estate SaaS platform serving agents, brokers, and brands
- Raised roughly $115M in total funding for Placester across seed to Series D
- Built Builder, described as the most widely used real estate plugin on WordPress
- Named to Swanepoel POWER 200 in 2015, 2016, and 2017
- Placester recognized on the Inc. 5000 list for growth

## Latest updates

- **2017-03** — Placester raised a $50M Series D.
- **2017-01** — Named to Swanepoel POWER 200 for a third consecutive year.

## Links

- Website: https://placester.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewbarba/
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/matthewbarba
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Placester/320744871774

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/matt-barba
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-09