Mike Lynch, the founder of pioneering data-analysis and enterprise search company Autonomy, is reportedly planning to set up a technology investment fund to back startups which will allegedly involve other former Autonomy executives in the fund, according to sources. It’s understood that the fund, as yet unnamed, will be based in London but invest in companies globally.
Autonomy was acquired by HP for $10.3 billion last August, but Lynch left this year following a decline in license revenue at the Autonomy unit. Bloomberg reports that Lynch owned about 8 percent of Autonomy’s shares at the time of HP’s offer, which was valued at $834 million (£505m).
Lynch has had a combative relationship with some analysts over Autonomy’s value in the past, but is respected for his deep knowledge of complex software.
He already has a stake in Featurespace, a Cambridge University research spin-out, which aims to predict customer behaviour and act as an early warning mechanism for identify fraud. He also has a large stake in Aurasma, an augmented reality spin-out form Autonomy which became part of HP which we’ve covered before.
Lynch’s move will be welcomed by plenty in the tech startup eco-system as Lynch has been a champion of tech entrepreneurs, especially at UK government level, where, last year, he advised an initiative on allowing small companies to pitch for UK government procurement contracts.
However, Lynch, given his career path to date, is likely to concentrate on the enterprise rather than consumer web/mobile startups.
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