Billy Evans, the boyfriend of Theranos fraudster Elizabeth Holmes, has launched a new blood-testing startup named Haemanthus. The company markets itself as ‘the future of diagnostics,’ offering ‘a radically new approach to health testing.’ This echoes the claims made by Holmes’ defunct company, Theranos, which turned out to be fraudulent. Holmes is reportedly advising Haemanthus from the Texas prison where she is serving an 11-year sentence for fraud.
Holmes’ Theranos venture was exposed as a scam in 2018. Before its downfall, it had raised over $700 million and was valued at $10 billion. Holmes herself was once worth $4.5 billion but was later convicted and sentenced to more than a decade in prison.
Haemanthus, meaning ‘blood flower’ in Greek, aims to achieve ‘human health optimization.’ According to materials seen by The New York Times, the company claims to have developed a prototype device capable of testing blood, saliva, or urine for disease biomarkers within seconds. The firm plans to target the pet market before expanding to human testing.
The device resembles the one Holmes claimed to have developed. However, Evans’ pitches reportedly omit any mention of his connection to Holmes. Some high-profile investors, including Facebook investor James Breyer and billionaire Michael Dell’s venture capital firm, have already declined to invest in Haemanthus.
Despite this, Evans has managed to raise nearly $20 million from friends and established investors in Austin and San Francisco. Haemanthus operates out of Evans’ Austin neighborhood and appears to have around 10 employees.
Evans, 33, met Holmes, 41, in 2017 while she was under federal investigation. They have two young children together. Evans is the heir to a hospitality company founded by his grandparents and previously worked for a self-driving car startup called Luminar.
— new from The Daily Beast