The story begins in 2017: Oscar Delabranche and Ali Baghdadi meet at an HEC Committee cocktail party on the first day of their studies. A few years later, the friends, who were still students at the time, founded the start-up Quanthome, which specializes in real estate data. It now employs 14 people, including Nathan Delacrétaz, a researcher at HEC Lausanne, who recently joined them. How did it all begin?
It all started with a student job. Oscar showed apartments for a Lausanne agency. Ali joined him shortly afterwards at the same company. The two students worked, studied, got involved in associations, and went through exam sessions.
One winter evening in 2019, over drinks with friends, they discussed how to improve the relocation service they were working in. Shortly afterwards, something unexpected happened: their employer announced that it was closing down the division they worked in.
Ali and Oscar did not let this get them down. They put their entrepreneurial and opportunistic spirit to good use and offered to take over the business. With their bachelor’s degrees in hand and their master’s degrees in finance just begun at HEC Lausanne, they launched their own company, driven by energy, networking, and ambition.
But very quickly, one thing became clear. Property management companies lacked structured data on the buildings they managed. Elevators, renovations, energy performance: the information was scattered, incomplete, and sometimes non-existent. “We realized that there was a real problem with the lack of reliable data; the industry is relatively opaque,” explains Oscar.
This led to a major shift in their vision: what if, instead of focusing on re-letting, they developed a platform that brought together structured Swiss real estate data that could be used by investors and professionals?
Félix Arbrez-Gindre, an engineer friend and third co-founder, joined them to automate the extraction of data from real estate listings and public records. The first models were created. Quanthome took shape.
The project quickly attracted business angels, who enabled them to recruit engineers and develop an initial platform. That’s when Nathan Delacrétaz, then a researcher at the Center for Risk Management at HEC Lausanne, entered the picture. Faced with the difficulty of obtaining quality data from real estate funds to assess their ESG performance, he found an alternative in Quanthome: consolidated, objective, data that could be used directly. The CRML became one of their first partners, alongside the BCV’s Asset Management department.
For the founders, the challenge goes beyond simple financial performance. “Real estate must become institutionalized to better serve tenants, attract investors, and meet energy objectives, etc. This sector cannot do so without solid data,” says Oscar.
A technology company
Today, Quanthome defines itself first and foremost as a technology company. Of its 14 employees, 12 are engineers. The massive arrival of AI is seen not as a threat but as an accelerator. “A year ago, we were gaining 10 to 30% in performance. Today, with AI, it’s sometimes 200% to 300%,” comments Ali. With a lean structure, quick decisions, and adaptability, their size becomes a strategic advantage.
What did their studies at HEC Lausanne bring them?
The credibility of a master’s degree in finance, of course. But above all, a culture and values: rigor, transparency, entrepreneurship, and initiative. Student associations also taught them how to manage projects, teams, and responsibilities. “We learned to work hard, but also to be bold,” say the company’s two founders.
Entrepreneurship does not erase fears—financial, strategic, personal. But it pushes you to move forward despite them and turn doubt into energy.
Quanthome was born out of friendship, business acumen, and a gamble taken in the midst of uncertainty. Driven by the conviction that transparency can transform an entire market, the start-up now aims to expand beyond Switzerland and even beyond the continent.
