Elizabeth Holmes went to prison for lying about a blood-testing machine. Her partner just raised as much as $20 million for a blood-testing startup, and he isn’t exactly running from the comparison.
“The idea is to put the band back together and do it all again,” Billy Evans says in a new A24 documentary about the couple.
His startup, Haemanthus, says a laser-based device can detect disease in blood, saliva and urine. It has no commercial product and no independently validated results, Fortune reported Sunday. Read that again: no product, no proof, up to $20 million.
So who is writing those checks? According to Fortune, the first $3.5 million came from friends and family. Then Evans pitched wealthy investors in Austin and the San Francisco Bay Area for about $15 million more. It helps to be an MIT graduate whose grandparents founded Evans Hotels, a group of upscale San Diego hotels, A&E reported. Early money doesn’t pay for proof. It pays for access.
The Part Investors Should Read Twice
The CTO is gone, and the stories don’t match. Former CTO Joseph LaChapelle, one of two inventors named on the company’s patent, says he resigned in March over a conflict with another startup he founded. Evans has described it differently, saying he let him go, according to a person who spoke with him, Fortune reported. When the name on your patent walks out, people notice.
The pitch name-dropped Palantir. Evans claimed early Palantir employees had invested, according to a person who spoke with him, Fortune reported.
The first customers will be pets. Haemanthus plans to start with veterinary testing, a less regulated market than human diagnostics. A smart place to start if you’d like fewer regulators asking questions.
Holmes’s role is disputed. NPR reported in 2025 that Holmes had been advising Evans from prison. The company denied she was involved and posted on X: “This is not Theranos 2.0,” NPR reported. It’s the one sentence a company says whether it’s true or not, which is exactly the problem.
Even Evans has doubts. “I might think this is like the dumbest thing I’ve ever done,” he said at the All-In Summit, Fortune reported.
The documentary, You Can See Everything, from Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, opened Oct. 16 with a 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Fielder’s verdict on Holmes, to Variety: “I know she’s a liar,” according to Wikipedia.
Before Your Next Meeting
Here’s what this means for your business:
- If a skeptic asked for proof tomorrow, what would you show them? Haemanthus has money and a patent, but Fortune found no independently validated results. Write down the one piece of evidence that proves your product works. If you can’t, get it before your next pitch.
- If a key person left tomorrow, what story would they tell? The CTO named on the patent is gone, and the two sides tell it differently. Who on your team would you least want telling their version, and what are you doing to keep that version good?
- What’s the first thing people think of when they hear your name? Haemanthus had to publicly post “This is not Theranos 2.0.” If your history walks into the room before you do, address it head-on in the first five minutes.
Sources: Fortune; A&E; NPR via WFAE; Wikipedia: You Can See Everything.
Want the stories your boardroom hasn’t heard yet? Get them first inside C-SUITE NETWORK™.
.jpg){kind=link}