Interview #4 of our St. Patrick's Day series, and we're staying closer to home with a trip to London.

Dr. Jan Cosgrave is the CEO and co-founder of Neurotype, an AI-powered clinical operating system tackling one of healthcare's most overlooked crises: the waiting list for autism and ADHD assessments. An Oxford-trained Clinical Neuroscientist and former NHS psychologist, Jan is bringing serious academic and clinical firepower to a problem that affects millions.

An Irish founder quietly building something important in the heart of London — we're glad she sat down with us.

Stay tuned for the remaining interviews over the coming weeks and keep an eye out for our St. Patrick's Day newsletter, where we reveal the full results of our survey with over 120 Irish founders across the globe.

I'm Dr. Jan Cosgrave, CEO and co-founder of Neurotype. I completed my PhD in Clinical Neuroscience at the University of Oxford, followed by clinical training at University College London. I later worked as a Senior Clinical Psychologist in the NHS and was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to conduct research at the University of Pennsylvania. My clinical and research background has shaped Neurotype's focus on building technology that is both scientifically rigorous and grounded in real-world service pressures.

Neurotype is based in the UK and we are building an AI-powered clinical operating system for neurodevelopmental and mental health services, with plans to establish an Irish branch as part of our expansion.

Neurotype uses agentic AI to automate diagnostic report writing and structured clinical workflows for autism and ADHD assessments. Clinicians often spend 5–7 hours producing a single report. Our platform reduces that to under an hour while maintaining structured alignment with NICE guidance and DSM-5 criteria. The goal is not simply efficiency but unlocking capacity in a system under extraordinary strain.

Neurotype was founded in 2025 with a clear mission: to eliminate waiting lists in neurodevelopmental care. Long term, we aim to build the largest structured, ethically governed database of neurodiversity and mental health care globally. Our ambition is to become the infrastructure layer that supports faster diagnosis, better outcomes, and sustainable clinician wellbeing.

I remain strongly optimistic given the level of traction we have seen so far.

The demand signal is clear. Waiting lists for autism and ADHD assessments are at record highs. Clinicians are exhausted by administrative burden. At the same time, AI capability has matured to a point where it can be deployed responsibly within highly structured, compliance-driven clinical workflows.

What gives me confidence is that we are not trying to replace clinicians, we are augmenting them. The feedback from early adopters has been consistent: this is solving a real, daily pain point that has existed in the system for years.

We are also on the precipice of closing our pre-seed round, having secured a term sheet from a leading venture investor. That external validation, alongside growing clinical partnerships, reinforces that the problem we are addressing is both urgent and commercially meaningful.

There is a broader macro shift happening too. Policymakers are openly discussing productivity in healthcare systems. Investors are increasingly focused on AI infrastructure rather than superficial applications. We are positioned at the intersection of clinical need, regulatory alignment, and technological maturity.

The next 12 months are about execution.

We are continuing to build proprietary clinical workflow infrastructure, not just report generation, but structured data capture, guideline mapping, and agentic orchestration across assessment pathways. Defensibility comes from workflow integration, regulatory alignment, and data architecture, not just language models.

Expanding across UK providers and progressing US pilots is a key focus. Our target customer is typically a clinical director responsible for quality, compliance, and capacity. We want Neurotype embedded at that level.

Once reporting is automated, there are natural extensions into triage, treatment planning, and ongoing monitoring. The long-term vision is to support the full neurodevelopmental care pathway.

AI in healthcare must be safe, ethical, and compliant. We are continuing to invest in data security, auditability, and structured alignment with NICE and DSM guidance.

The next year is about moving from promising traction to proof of product-market fit.

The biggest challenge is pace. Healthcare transformation is urgent, but healthcare procurement is slow. There is enormous appetite for innovation, yet decision cycles can stretch over many months. For a startup, managing that tension requires careful runway planning and disciplined prioritisation.

It can also create a strategic tension: do you drive directly at the mission by entering public healthcare systems, or do you prioritise private and international markets where adoption can move faster? Timing those decisions carefully is critical.

A second challenge is perception. AI in mental health understandably provokes concern. We spend considerable time educating stakeholders that this is not automated diagnosis, it is structured, guideline-aligned support for clinicians. Trust is fundamental in healthcare, and rightly so.

Finally, the competitive landscape is evolving rapidly. General AI tools are improving at speed. To remain ahead, we are focused on building deep, domain-specific infrastructure — regulatory alignment, structured data capture, workflow orchestration — rather than relying on generic model capabilities alone.

Fundraising in 2026 is more disciplined than in previous cycles. Investors are looking for strong technical defensibility, early commercial traction, and capital efficiency.

The bar is higher, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. It forces clarity.

AI has become crowded, and there is scepticism around surface-level applications. We have found that serious investors respond well to deep specialisation and domain expertise.

The process is time-intensive, and founder bandwidth is always stretched. However, we are have just secured our first term sheet for our pre-seed round.

I would go so far as to say that being Irish has transformed my experience as a founder and opened invaluable doors.

The Irish community, particularly in London, is strong, generous, and connected. I am part of Lorraine Curham’s Fierce network for Irish women founders, which has been a guiding force from the earliest stages of Neurotype through to fundraising. I am also part of the Awaken Angels network with Mary McKenna and Sinead Crowley, which actively supports women founders.

Through the Digital Irish community in London, I was selected to pitch at only the second event I had ever attended. By the end of the evening, I felt as though I had gained an extended family. That experience led to meaningful traction and direct introductions to investors, but just as importantly, it created a sense of belonging and momentum.

Along the way, I have received consistent mentorship and support, including from an Irish healthtech CEO who has successfully IPO’d, which has been both grounding and aspirational.

More broadly, the Irish ecosystem is networked and internationally oriented. There is a strong culture of supporting founders abroad and actively opening doors into global markets. That outward mindset is invaluable when building a company with UK and US ambitions.

There is also a resilience that comes from building out of a smaller market. Irish founders tend to think internationally from day one, you cannot rely on domestic scale alone. That perspective encourages ambition, adaptability, and long-term thinking.

On a personal level, there is a warmth and openness associated with being Irish that I find is well received. We are natural storytellers, and in both healthcare and venture contexts, the ability to build trust through narrative and relationship is an advantage.

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