Former Autonomy chief Lynch backs Augmented Reality startup

Mike Lynch, the co-founder of software firm Autonomy has invested in an augmented reality start-up based in London.

The start-up known as Taggar, allows people to share video and other content they have tagged to objects, Lynch said.

The undisclosed investment is the second by Invoke Capital, a $1 billion fund set up by the British entrepreneur after he left Autonomy. The first was a $20 million investment in cybersecurity firm Darktrace.

Lynch is now focusing on commercialising science and mathematics technology coming out of British universities, which he calls "techy tech".

"I am a great believer that techy tech and creative tech need to talk to each other a bit more, on both sides," he said in an interview.

"We are good at both of them, but the sad thing is in the past they haven't leveraged each other enough."

The use of augmented reality, which allows devices such as smartphone to recognise objects in the real world, such as a building, and overlay relevant information onto the image on its screen, is expected to become increasingly common.

The launch of Taggar comes on the third anniversary of London's Tech City, a government-backed initiative to create a cluster of tech business in the capital.

Lynch netted $760 million after HP bought Autonomy, but the deal has been overshadowed by accusations of accounting fraud.

Lynch, who has strongly contested the claims, said he had heard "remarkably little" from the authorities, including the US Department of Justice and Britain's Serious Fraud Office, in the last year.

"We are still sitting here waiting to hear what this is all about," he said.

"It's an absolutely bizarre situation to us."