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| birth_name = Michael Richard Lynch
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1965|06|16|df=yes}}
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'''Michael Richard Lynch'''
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.
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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 (musical instrument)|sampler]] for the [[Atari ST]].<ref name=Insider>{{Cite web|last1=Shead|first1=Sam|last2=Ghosh|first2=Shona|title=Inside the life of Mike Lynch, who sold his search startup to HP for $11 billion and was charged with fraud|url=https://www.insider.com/the-life-of-mike-lynch-autonomy-hp-2017-5|date=26 December 2018|work=Insider|access-date=1 July 2021|archive-date=22 August 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822133329/https://www.businessinsider.com/the-life-of-mike-lynch-autonomy-hp-2017-5|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Forbes>{{cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2000/0403/6508146a.html|title=The Searcher|date=3 April 2000|work=Forbes|access-date=26 March 2024|archive-date=26 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240326124450/https://www.forbes.com/forbes/2000/0403/6508146a.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1991, he founded Cambridge Neurodynamics, which specialised in computer-based [[fingerprint recognition]].<ref name=Insider/> There were three [[corporate spin-off]]s from Cambridge Neurodynamics:
# Neurascript, which searched business documents based on [[character recognition]] and was bought by the German company Dicom in 2004
# NCorp, which searched databases
# [[Autonomy Corporation]], which searched unstructured sources including phone calls, emails and videos
===Autonomy===
In 1996, Lynch founded [[HP Autonomy|Autonomy]], a search software company, with [[David Tabizel]] and Richard Gaunt.<ref name=Insider/> With Lynch as [[chief executive officer]] (CEO), Autonomy became one of the UK's [[FTSE 100 Index|top 100 public companies]], and a leading company in [[Silicon Fen]].<ref name=BBCTrialbegins/><ref name=GuardianRiseandfall/> Lynch was described in the press as the British equivalent of the American businessman [[Bill Gates]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Browne |first=Ryan |date=20 August 2024 |title='Britain's Bill Gates': Who is Mike Lynch, the UK tech entrepreneur missing after superyacht sinks? |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/20/who-is-mike-lynch-uk-tech-entrepreneur-missing-in-superyacht-sinking.html |access-date=21 August 2024 |website=[[CNBC]] |language=en |archive-date=21 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240821124831/https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/20/who-is-mike-lynch-uk-tech-entrepreneur-missing-in-superyacht-sinking.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Strick |first=Katie |date=21 August 2024 |title=Missing tycoon Mike Lynch: the 'British Bill Gates' who was 'starting a second life' |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/mike-lynch-tech-tycoon-bill-gates-britain-sicily-superyacht-disaster-b1177288.html |access-date=21 August 2024 |website=[[Evening Standard]] |language=en |archive-date=22 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240822142309/https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/mike-lynch-tech-tycoon-bill-gates-britain-sicily-superyacht-disaster-b1177288.html |url-status=live }}</ref> In October 2011, [[Hewlett-Packard]] bought Autonomy for more than $11 billion (£8.6 billion).<ref name=BBCTrialbegins/> Lynch made an estimated $800 million from the sale.<ref name=BBCTrialbegins/>
After the sale, Lynch founded a [[venture capital]] firm, Invoke Capital.<ref name=GuardianRiseandfall/> One of the first companies backed by Invoke Capital was cybersecurity firm [[Darktrace]].<ref name=Insider/> 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 from Autonomy. Lynch was a member of the board until 2018 and continued as a member of the advisory council until 2021. He 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, Darktrace had to counter scepticism about its technology.<ref name=GuardianRiseandfall/><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jan/25/snake-oil-doubts-loom-over-tech-firm-darktraces-high-octane-sales-strategy|title='Snake oil': doubts loom over tech firm Darktrace's high-octane sales strategy|date=25 January 2022|work=The Guardian|access-date=31 January 2022|archive-date=31 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220131183734/https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jan/25/snake-oil-doubts-loom-over-tech-firm-darktraces-high-octane-sales-strategy|url-status=live}}</ref>
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[[File:20240808 Bayesian Yacht.jpg|thumb|''Bayesian'' superyacht at [[Milazzo|Milazzo, Sicily]]]]
{{main|Bayesian (yacht)#Sinking}}
In August 2024, Lynch celebrated his acquittal in the San Francisco trial with a cruise on the family [[superyacht]], ''[[Bayesian (yacht)|Bayesian]]''. He was joined by his wife and daughter and nine invited guests, including two lawyers from his defense team. In the early hours of 19 August, the yacht sank off the coast of [[Sicily]], outside the port of [[Porticello, Sicily|Porticello]], during a powerful storm, with 22 people on board.<ref name="Grierson">{{Cite news |last1=Grierson |first1=Jamie |last2=Weaver |first2=Matthew |last3=Tondo |first3=Lorenzo |date=22 August 2024 |title=Mike Lynch confirmed dead after yacht sank off Sicily coast during storm |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/22/body-found-missing-uk-tech-entrepreneur-mike-lynch-yacht-bayesian-sicily |access-date=22 August 2024 |work=[[The Guardian]] |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=23 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240823055111/https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/22/body-found-missing-uk-tech-entrepreneur-mike-lynch-yacht-bayesian-sicily |url-status=live }}</ref> Lynch, his teenage daughter Hannah, four guests, and one member of the crew died.<ref name="Tondo">{{Cite news |last1=Tondo |first1=Lorenzo |last2=Dugan |first2=Emily |date=2024-08-23 |title=Manslaughter charges considered as final body recovered from Sicily yacht |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/23/mike-lynch-yacht-possibility-of-manslaughter-charges-as-final-body-retrieved-sicily |access-date=2024-08-23 |work=[[The Guardian]] |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=24 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240824040404/https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/23/mike-lynch-yacht-possibility-of-manslaughter-charges-as-final-body-retrieved-sicily |url-status=live }}</ref> Lynch's wife, Angela Bacares, was among the 15 persons who were rescued.<ref name="Grierson"/> Lynch's body was recovered by the [[Corps of the Port Captaincies – Coast Guard|Italian Coast Guard]] on 22 August.<ref name="Grierson" /> Italian authorities opened an investigation into the sinking.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Tondo |first=Lorenzo |date=2024-08-24 |title=Sicily yacht sinking could be result of human error, prosecutor suggests |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/24/sicily-yacht-sinking-manslaughter-investigation-opened |access-date=2024-08-25 |work=[[The Guardian]] |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077 |archive-date=27 August 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240827090414/https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/24/sicily-yacht-sinking-manslaughter-investigation-opened |url-status=live }}</ref>
==References==
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[[Category:1965 births]]
[[Category:2024 deaths]]
[[Category:People educated at Bancroft's School]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
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