Mike Lynch (businessman) facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Mike Lynch
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Lynch in 2014
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Michael Richard Lynch
16 June 1965 Ilford, London, England
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| Died | c. 19 August 2024 (aged 59) Mediterranean Sea, off Porticello, Santa Flavia, Sicily
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| Alma mater | University of Cambridge (MA, PhD) |
| Known for | Autonomy Corporation |
| Spouse(s) | Angela Bacares |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Software engineering |
| Thesis | Adaptive techniques in signal processing and connectionist models (1990) |
| Doctoral advisor | Peter J.W. Rayner |
Michael Richard Lynch OBE DL FRS FREng (16 June 1965 – c. 19 August 2024) was a British technology entrepreneur who co-founded Autonomy Corporation and founded Invoke Capital. He then became a co-founder, alongside Invoke Capital, of the cybersecurity company Darktrace. He had various other roles, including in an advisory capacity.
Following an undergraduate degree, a doctorate and post-doctoral research at the University of Cambridge, Lynch applied his research in machine learning to set up software companies and become a major figure in Silicon Fen. He was described in the press as the British equivalent of the American businessman Bill Gates, with an estimated worth of £852 million in 2023.
The sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard in 2011 led to accusations of fraud and resulted in civil litigation in the UK and Lynch's extradition to the US. He went on trial in 2024 and was found not guilty of all charges. In August 2024, Lynch died after his family's superyacht, Bayesian, capsized and sank off the coast of Sicily.
Early life and education
Lynch was born in Ilford, London Borough of Redbridge, on 16 June 1965. and grew up near Chelmsford in Essex. His mother was a nurse from County Tipperary and his father a firefighter from County Cork in Ireland.
Aged 11, he won a scholarship to Bancroft's School, Woodford. He was later the lead Patron of the Bancroft's Foundation, which was established to provide means-tested scholarship support to enable bright pupils to study at the school regardless of family income. From Bancroft's he went to Christ's College, Cambridge, to study Natural Sciences. After graduating he studied for a PhD in artificial neural networks (a form of machine learning) under the supervision of Peter Rayner, director of studies in engineering at Christ's College, and produced a thesis with the title Adaptive techniques in signal processing and connectionist models. He undertook a research fellowship in adaptive pattern recognition.
Career
Lynch set up his first company in the late 1980s, while he was studying for his PhD. Lynett Systems Ltd was financed with a £2,000 loan negotiated in a bar, and produced designs and audio products including synthesisers and a sampler for the Atari ST. In 1991, he founded Cambridge Neurodynamics, which specialised in computer-based fingerprint recognition. There were three spin-offs from Cambridge Neurodynamics: Neurascript, which searched business documents based on character recognition and was bought by German company Dicom in 2004; NCorp, which searched databases; and Autonomy which searched unstructured sources including phone calls, emails and videos.
In 1996, Lynch founded Autonomy, a search software company, with David Tabizel and Richard Gaunt. With Lynch as chief executive officer (CEO), Autonomy become one of the UK's top 100 public companies, and a leading company in Silicon Fen. Lynch was described in the press as the British equivalent of the American businessman Bill Gates. In October 2011, Autonomy was sold to Hewlett-Packard for more than $11 billion (£8.6 billion). Lynch made an estimated $800 million from the sale.
After the sale, Lynch founded a venture capital firm, Invoke Capital. One of the first companies backed by Invoke Capital was cybersecurity firm Darktrace. Invoke Capital became the biggest shareholder of Darktrace, with Lynch and his wife Angela Bacares being the second biggest, holding shares worth nearly £200 million. Many of the staff at Darktrace, including its CEO, had moved across from Autonomy and Lynch was a member of the board until 2018 and continued as a member of the advisory council until 2021. Lynch was a member of the Darktrace science and technology council until February 2023. As well as having to deal with questions about Lynch's involvement with the company, Darktrace had to counter scepticism about its technology, which analysts referred to as "snake oil".
Other technology companies backed by Invoke Capital include Featurespace, which specialises in software to detect and prevent fraud and financial crime. Invoke Capital has invested in the legal technology firm Luminance, established in collaboration with Slaughter and May. Sophia Genetics, a Swiss medical data company, is also backed by Invoke Capital.
As a leading technology entrepreneur, Lynch held a number of positions on boards and committees. When he was charged with fraud in the United States he resigned from his role as a government advisor on the Council for Science and Technology and from Royal Society committees. He had previously been on the board of Cambridge Enterprise, Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, the BBC, the British Library, Nesta, and the Francis Crick Institute.
Personal life
Lynch was married to Angela Bacares and they had two daughters. In 2023, the Sunday Times Rich List estimated the couple's net worth at £852 million. Lynch's entry in Who's Who lists his recreations as jazz saxophone and preserving rare breeds. He kept a herd of Red Poll cattle on his Loudham Hall estate at Pettistree, in East Suffolk.
Death
Lynch died after his superyacht, Bayesian, sank off the coast of Sicily, on 19 August 2024, with Lynch and 21 other people on board. Lynch was celebrating his acquittal in the San Francisco trial. According to witnesses, the yacht, which was anchored off Porticello, Santa Flavia, was struck by a waterspout during a powerful storm in the early hours of the morning. Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares, was among the 15 people rescued. On 22 August, the bodies of Lynch and four others were recovered from the boat and identified by the Coast Guard. His teenage daughter Hannah remains missing.
Awards and honours
Lynch was appointed an OBE for services to enterprise in the 2006 New Year Honours. In June 2008, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. In 2011, he was named as the most influential person in UK IT by Computer Weekly. In 2014, Lynch was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society and made a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Suffolk. He was a Lady Margaret Beaufort Fellow at Christ's College, Cambridge.
