Simon Hade

Simon Hade is an accomplished professional with extensive experience in the mobile gaming and music industries. Currently serving as a full-time employee at Duolingo since August 2025, Simon also holds the position of Seed Investor at Appcharge. Between October 2024 and August 2025, Simon was the CEO of NextBeat, a music gaming business that emerged from Supercell's successful franchises. Prior to this, Simon co-founded Space Ape Games in June 2012 and held various leadership roles, including CFO, COO, CMO, and CXO, during which the award-winning studio became recognized for its extensive player base of over 170 million. In addition, Simon was an investor in Voisey, a mobile music creation platform acquired by Snap, from May 2019 to December 2020. Simon Hade holds a Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Laws with Honors from The University of Queensland, completed in January 1999.