Lynch, Mike (1965– )

English entrepreneur and computer scientist. He founded his first company, Neurodynamics, in 1991, to develop pattern recognition in areas such as fingerprint-matching systems and handwriting recognition. Using the same principles, he set up Autonomy in 1996 to develop software that sorts and understands ‘unstructured data’ (or text) contained in computers. Its software solutions are based on 18th-century English clergyman Thomas Bayes's mathematical approach to problem-solving and pattern recognition. Successfully combining the academic and business world, Lynch has been described as the UK's answer to Bill Gates and was its first Internet billionaire.

Lynch's software automated the process of sorting unstructured data, analysing the information and drawing conclusions as to its relevance or importance. It organized online product information and could profile customers' buying and browsing habits. English retailing executive Terry Leahy bought the system in 2000 for UK retail company Tesco's online shopping site. Since then, Lynch's company has acquired blue-chip customers such as British Aerospace, the BBC and Reuters in the UK, and the Department of Defense and Merrill Lynch in the USA (the USA accounting for 50% of revenues in 2000).

Autonomy was launched on Easdaq (the European exchange for high growth stocks) in 1998, and in 2000 on Nasdaq (the US technologies index) and the London Stock Exchange. Autonomy went straight into the FTSE 100 with a market capitalization of over $4 billion, although its valuation had fallen 20% by 2001. That year Lynch, who is known to have little patience with the City's understanding of technology companies, was involved in a public row with investment analysts after Merrill Lynch recommended that its clients sell Autonomy shares because of the threat of competition from Microsoft.

The son of an Essex fireman, Lynch was educated at Bancroft's School in Essex and had holiday jobs at Marconi. He received a degree in electrical and information sciences and a PhD from Cambridge University.

Having been unable to get venture capital funding, he reputedly borrowed £2,000 from an ‘eccentric’ rock band promoter whom he met in a London wine bar to set up his first company, Neurodynamics. Autonomy was set up with funding from venture capitalists Apax and Durlacher.

Lynch holds the Institute of Electrical Engineers' medal for outstanding achievement. He plays the saxophone and rides on his own miniature railway on his Suffolk estate.