Transforming the Property Market in Saudi Arabia: The Rise of Quant and Huawei
A Journey to Revolutionize the Real Estate Sector
Despite being one of the richest countries in the world, Saudi Arabia remained data-poor in the real-estate sector until recently. Ahmed Bukhamseen, the founder of Quant, aimed to change this by transforming the property investment market and opening up pricing information to buyers, speculators, and investors.
The Power of Data
At the core of Quant is data – advertised and realised prices, mapping, details of proposed and ongoing construction, geo-spacial data, imagery, and more. We spoke to Ahmed at the recent MWC (Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona to discuss the company’s vision and its journey to date.
Challenges and Solutions
Quant’s main challenge was to comply with data protection regulations, which led to a change in their data hosting strategy. They chose Huawei, a Chinese tech giant, for their cloud services. Ahmed explained, "We started comparing Huawei with others. We discovered that Huawei offer cloud services late, about this time last year. We started using Huawei, and it has been a great experience so far."
Growth and Expansion
As Quant’s business model developed, so did its requirements. The company started out by supplying information drawn from Saudi municipal data registries, but has since enriched that core information with local data and high-res satellite imagery. Ahmed noted, "We were using a data centre here and the data had to go from Saudi to Europe and back. We were running AI on the edge, on images without storing them. But now we have different use cases, so we needed to store data before and after processing, after enrichment or maximisation."
The Future of Quant
The company is revising its data, further enriching it, and adding value for its clients. Ahmed highlighted, "We need to develop specific feature detection or object detection. For example, municipality data could state a company has zoning for a warehouse or extension, and we don’t know which one the owner decided on. But from space, we can build models and see the exact building plan." Quant is also turning to Huawei for its machine learning services, citing significant improvements in processing time.
Conclusion
Quant’s innovative approach to property investment is poised to revolutionize the Saudi real estate market. With its data-driven platform, the company is providing valuable insights to individuals, investors, and businesses alike. As Ahmed emphasized, "We want to see you in Saudi, and see the return on real estate! We don’t talk about 2% or 5% growth: We’re talking about multiplying investments similar to the Bitcoin market."
FAQs
Q: What is Quant’s main focus?
A: Quant’s main focus is on providing data-driven insights to the property market in Saudi Arabia, helping individuals, investors, and businesses make informed decisions.
Q: What is the significance of Huawei in Quant’s operations?
A: Huawei provides cloud services to Quant, enabling the company to store and process large amounts of data efficiently and effectively.
Q: What are the future plans for Quant?
A: Quant is revising its data, further enriching it, and adding value for its clients. The company is also exploring new markets and services, such as advising retailers on the best areas to site their stores and extending its data scope to include the rental market.
