From Idea to Impact: Partnering with the University of Bristol

A Simple Proposal That Sparked Something Bigger

Over the past few months, we’ve had the opportunity to work with MSc FinTech students from the University of Bristol through its Professional Liaison Network. What began as a straightforward partnership proposal has turned into one of the most meaningful collaborations in Mach D’s journey so far.

As we began pivoting Mach D from an AI trading assistant into a learning-first crypto education platform, we knew we wanted to build something grounded in real user needs. So we reached out to the university and proposed integrating Mach D into their dissertation programme, offering students the chance to use our sandbox environment to explore topics in crypto trading.

From Concept to Closed Pilot

We submitted three dissertation project ideas: algorithmic trading strategies, crypto portfolio optimisation, and the impact of macroeconomic and political events on digital asset pricing. We expected some interest, but were genuinely surprised when nearly 70% of the MSc FinTech cohort expressed interest in collaborating with us.

After conducting interviews, three students were selected to take part in a closed academic pilot. Each student chose one of the research areas and began using Mach D’s early-stage simulation tools and datasets to conduct their work. While our platform is still in development, these students have played an active role in shaping its next phase.

Learning Goes Both Ways

Working with these students hasn’t just helped validate parts of our platform — it’s exposed important areas for improvement. Their feedback has touched on everything from usability and data clarity to feature flexibility in a research context. It’s helped us rethink certain design choices and reprioritise aspects of the user journey.

This isn’t just a research collaboration. It’s part of our wider effort to ensure Mach D is built with the people it’s meant to support, those who are learning, testing, and exploring their way into trading, not just executing trades for the sake of it.

What Comes Next

We’ll continue working with the University of Bristol and refining what we’ve learned through this pilot. Meanwhile, we’ve opened up our early access waitlist to the wider public, inviting users to try out our crypto strategy sandbox before the full platform launches later this year.

🔗 Join the waitlist

We’re grateful to the University of Bristol team, and especially to the students who’ve chosen to take this journey with us. This collaboration is just the beginning, and we’re looking forward to building more bridges between education and experimentation as we grow.