A twelve-week AI cohort worth the train from Cardiff.
Moonlabs is the operator-led AI Academy in Derby. We run three live companies — Homemove, home.co.uk and homedata.co.uk — and we teach twelve students per cohort to ship a real AI product, sell it to a real customer, and raise on it. Three pillars: Coding, Commercials, Investment. Twelve weeks. £6,000.
Moonlabs is what we are. Two operators — James Freestone and Louis O’Connell-Bristow — who run Homemove, home.co.uk and homedata.co.uk, have raised £5m+ for their own companies, and have been AI-native since the week ChatGPT shipped.
The Academy is what we do. A twelve-week, in-person, twelve-student cohort in Derby. You build a real AI product. You sign a paid pilot. You write a deck and a financial model. You leave with a deployed system, a paying customer reference and a live investor pipeline. Coding, Commercials, Investment — the three pillars taught in equal weight every week.
Cardiff has Cardiff University, Cardiff Met, USW and a serious fintech and software scene — and not yet an operator-led AI bootcamp of its own. Derby is roughly three hours by train via Birmingham. Realistic for a twelve-week relocation, not for a daily commute. Central Derby is materially cheaper than Cardiff for the duration, and past Welsh students have stayed Monday-Friday and gone home weekends.
Coding · the stack Welsh employers are hiring for
Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, evals, deploys, observability. Cardiff hosts Admiral, Confused.com, Hodge Bank, Principality, Compare the Market’s tech hub, Yoello, GoCompare and a serious post-Welsh-Government fintech cluster — all hiring AI engineers. A deployed product by week twelve on your CV before any Cardiff University or Cardiff Met CS finalist has graduated.
Commercials · sell into the Welsh SMB market
Cardiff sits at the centre of a Welsh SMB market the rest of the UK barely sees — 30,000+ businesses with budgets in the hundreds rather than thousands and AI buying decisions still mostly unmade. Pricing, discovery calls, a one-page pilot agreement, the first £500 invoice. A paid pilot by week six — for many graduates, sold into a Welsh business they already know.
Investment · Welsh + Midlands capital network
Cap table from week two, ten-slide deck, financial model, term sheets line by line. The Development Bank of Wales, Cardiff Capital Region, Tramshed Tech, Founders Hub, plus Midlands Engine and ART Business Loans when graduates raise on either side of the Severn. A live investor pipeline by demo day.
Common questions.
How long is the commute from Cardiff to Derby?
Around three hours by direct train via Birmingham. Realistic for weekly commutes or relocation, not daily. Most past Welsh students have taken short-term central Derby accommodation for the twelve weeks.
I am at Cardiff University / Cardiff Met / USW. Can I fit this around my degree?
The Academy is full-time during the twelve weeks. Best fits are sandwich-year placements, gap years, or the summer between final exams and the next academic year.
Is there accommodation help in Derby?
Yes — we can introduce you to short-term central Derby accommodation at sensible rates. Materially cheaper than Cardiff city centre, let alone London. Several past students from outside the Midlands have done exactly this.
How does this compare to AI courses in Cardiff or Bristol?
Cardiff has good academic AI options; the in-person operator-led bootcamp space is thinner there and in Bristol. The Academy is a different shape from any of the Welsh or South-West academic options — less theory, more shipping, run by working operators. Bristol comparison page.
What about Swansea, Newport, Bridgend, Carmarthen?
All reachable in under four hours by train. Several past students have travelled in from across South Wales. Honest conversation about your specific situation on the first call.
More Academy entry points.
The Academy is one course with many doors. Each of these pages is a different entry point into the same twelve weeks.
Build it. Sell it. Raise on it. In twelve weeks.
Tell us what you would build, where you are based in Wales, and whether a twelve-week relocation to Derby is realistic. James and Louis read every application personally and reply inside the week.
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