Mike Lynch, recently acquitted in HP-Autonomy case, is missing after yacht capsized off Sicily

Mike Lynch, the investor and high-profile founder of U.K. tech firm Autonomy, has been declared missing at sea after the yacht he was on, the Bayesian, capsized in a storm off the coast of Sicily early Monday morning.

TechCrunch confirmed with a source close to the rescue operation that Lynch is one of six people missing from the boat. Lynch’s wife, Angela Bacares, is one of the 15 who have been rescued. One body has been found.

The news is a dramatic, tragic development for one of the more colorful, and sometimes controversial, figures in technology out of the U.K..

Lynch’s enterprise technology firm Autonomy was acquired in 2011 by HP for $11 billion — a major milestone for U.K. technology in the country. But it quickly turned sour and HP sued Lynch and other executives at the company, claiming it was misled in the transaction.

HP had contended that it was duped in the transaction and claimed that it led to a $4 billion loss — money it was demanding from Lynch and his former CFO. Lynch long asserted that he had acted in good faith and that he was being made into a scapegoat over a merger gone bad.

That legal drama went on for more than a decade and involved a host of thorny chapters, including extradition and a lot of very bad publicity for Lynch himself. It also led to a second civil case that took place in 2022 in the U.K., which Lynch had lost.

Then, the U.S. criminal case finally went to trial earlier this year in San Francisco, and in June, Lynch was acquitted over 15 counts of fraud and conspiracy.

“I am elated with today’s verdict and grateful to the jury for their attention to the facts over the last ten weeks. My deepest thanks go to my legal team for their tireless work on my behalf,” Lynch said at the time. “I am looking forward to returning to the UK and getting back to what I love most: my family and innovating in my field.”

In the interim years, Lynch had built up a profile in the U.K. as an investor, most prominently as the founder of Invoke Capital. The VC firm was the biggest investor in cybersecurity firm Darktrace, a connection that was not without its own controversy. It also invested in Sophia Genetics, Featurespace, and Luminance, among others. And it appeared that this is the route that he was set to continue.

Our thoughts go out to his family, friends and colleagues. We’ll update this post as we learn more.