Mike Lynch | |
|---|---|
&sq=&lang=&file=File:Dr_Michael_Lynch_OBE_FREng_FRS.jpg) Lynch in 2014 | |
| Born | Michael Richard Lynch 16 June 1965 Ilford, London, England |
| Died | 19 August 2024 (aged 59) |
| Education | Bancroft's School |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge (MA, PhD) |
| Known for | Co-founding Autonomy Corporation |
| Spouse | Angela Bacares |
| Children | 2 |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Software engineering |
| Thesis | Adaptive Techniques in Signal Processing and Connectionist Models (1990) |
| Doctoral advisor | Peter Rayner |
Michael Richard Lynch (16 June 1965 – 19 August 2024) was a British technology entrepreneur who co-founded Autonomy Corporation, Invoke Capital and Darktrace. He had various other roles, including in an advisory capacity.
Following an undergraduate degree, a PhD and postdoctoral 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 in 2019. The case was decided largely in favour of Hewlett-Packard. In 2023, Lynch was extradited to the United States to face criminal charges. He went on trial in San Francisco in March 2024 and in June was found not guilty on all counts.
Lynch was celebrating his acquittal with a cruise on his family's superyacht, Bayesian, when it sank in a storm off the coast of Sicily on 19 August 2024. Lynch, his daughter and five others died.