Bus driver’s son who rose to save his local football club and was friends with Stephen Hawking becomes tech billionaire

The son of a bus driver and former friend of Stephen Hawking became a billionaire and established himself as one of the richest men in England.

Tech entrepreneur Ilyas Khan, 63, has been praised for investing in local football club Accrington Stanley FC, saving it from bankruptcy.

He founded his business, Cambridge Quantum Computing, in 2014 and went public on the US stock market this weekend.

It was rebranded as Quantinuum in 2021 when it merged with US holding company Honeywell’s quantum business.

Mr Khan, who started his career as a banker before completing his degree in mathematics in his 40s, held the majority of the shares.

Quantinuum was valued at $14.3bn, or £10.75bn, after listing on New York’s Nasdaq on Friday.

Mr Khan’s 15 per cent stake is now worth £1.6bn, making him one of Britain’s richest tech entrepreneurs.

He grew up in Lancashire, where his father worked as a bus driver.

Mr Khan did well at school and continued his studies at the London School of Oriental and African Studies.

He started his career at fund management giant Schroders before moving to Citi and UBS to work in the banking sector.

Mr Khan later moved to Hong Kong, where he co-founded Techpacific.com, which invests in venture capital across Asia.

He sold the business for $700 million, allowing him to turn his attention to a degree in mathematics at the Open University.

Mr Khan returned to England in 2009 and became a hero in his hometown of Accrington, investing hundreds of thousands of pounds to save the football club.

He had previously deposited money into the club when he named one of the stands after his late mother.

Mr Khan was also a friend of Stephen Hawking.

He was chairman of the Stephen Hawking Foundation and co-founder of Accelerate Cambridge, which funds scientific initiatives at the university.