Latest news with #Theranos2.0
Business Mayor
15-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
Startups Weekly: A brighter outlook, but don't get carried away
Welcome to Startups Weekly — your weekly recap of everything you can't miss from the world of startups. Want it in your inbox every Friday? Sign up here . Startup news this week was fairly routine — in a good way: Aside from a minor kerfuffle between Y Combinator and Google, there was no headline-grabbing drama. Just steady progress and business as usual. Image Credits:Chime With IPO plans, acquisitions, and new launches, this week offers genuine reasons for optimism and bullishness. But don't get carried away, either: We're not ready for Theranos 2.0. Interesting filing: Digital consumer bank Chime publicly filed for an IPO this week. Among other numbers, the paperwork revealed it paid around $33 million to the Dallas Mavericks as part of its marketing efforts. Neon lights: Databricks is planning to spend around $1 billion to acquire Neon, a startup building an open source alternative to AWS Aurora Postgres, with hopes that their combined offerings will let customers more efficiently deploy AI agents (whatever those are). Catching the worm: Savings and investment startup Acorns acquired EarlyBird, an investment gifting platform for families, for an undisclosed amount. EarlyBird will shut down, and its co-founders will help build out Acorns Early, the startup's smart money app for kids. Bridging gaps: AutoUnify, the latest startup coming out of Porsche's partnership with venture studio hopes to become the Plaid of automotive retail with an API that bridges the communication gap between dealerships and service shops on one side and manufacturers and software vendors on the other. Friend or foe: Google launched its AI Futures Fund, a new initiative seeking to invest in AI startups that use DeepMind's tools. Also this week, Y Combinator released a brief accusing Google of being a 'monopolist' that has 'stunted' the U.S. startup ecosystem. Dual use: British startup Vertical Aerospace is working on a hybrid-electric eVTOL aircraft that would capitalize on its position as the only European player in the space, among rising demand for home-grown defense solutions. Are you kidding? Elizabeth Holmes' partner, Billy Evans, is reportedly trying to raise $50 million in funding for a new blood-testing startup with a pitch that resembles Theranos'. Image Credits:Bestow AI was once again a recurring theme in the pitches from startups that announced rounds this week, but these companies focus on a wide range of sectors and problems. Plus, there's fresh funding for fintech and for New York-based startups. Bestowed: Insurtech startup Bestow raised a $120 million Series D, including $75 million in primary investments, to launch new products and underwriting capabilities. AMD-powered: Las Vegas-based TensorWave raised a $100 million funding round co-led by Magnetar and AMD Ventures for its data center infrastructure, which primarily relies on AMD hardware. One step ahead: Sprinter Health, a company offering at-home preventative healthcare services such as blood draws, raised a $55 million Series B round led by General Catalyst. Pan-African: Egyptian startup Nawy, Africa's largest proptech platform, secured a $52 million Series A led by Partech Africa and $23 million in debt financing to support its MENA expansion. Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE are its next markets. Read More Reverse flipping – medium rare or well done? - Breakfast club: Fast-growing AI note-taking platform Granola raised a $43 million Series B at a $250 million valuation and launched a collaboration feature for teams. Fusion in a bottle: University of Wisconsin spinoff Realta Fusion obtained $36 million in fresh funding, which it plans to use to finalize the design of its Anvil prototype reactor. Talking babies: Hedra, a company helping artists produce podcasts featuring AI-generated talking babies, locked in $32 million from a16z. Fashionable: Doji, a startup hoping to make virtual apparel try-ons both fun and social, secured a $14 million seed round led by Thrive Capital it will use to improve its AI avatars. Bigger apple: New York-focused VC firm Work-Bench raised $160 million for its fourth fund, which will support seed-stage founders building enterprise software. Deeper: Mercury co-founder and CEO Immad Akhund launched a $26 million fund to back early-stage startups more meaningfully than as an angel investor. The fintech company was last valued at $3.5 billion in a March funding round. Image Credits:Eric Slesinger CIA officer turned investor Eric Slesinger may be the only American VC exclusively investing in European defense tech. In a recent episode of the StrictlyVC Download podcast, he told TechCrunch about the arguably prescient move that led him to found 201 Ventures.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Elizabeth Holmes' boyfriend launches biotech company startup
SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — Elizabeth Holmes is still locked up in prison for defrauding investors who believed in her biotech startup company, Theranos. The disgraced entrepreneur pitched her company's technology with promises of revolutionizing blood testing in America. Theranos' rapid demise rocked Silicon Valley. 'This is a fraud case where an exciting venture went forward with great expectations and hope only to be dashed by untruth, misrepresentations, hubris, and plain lies,' a federal judge who sentenced Holmes said. Holmes' ex-boyfriend, Sunny Balwani, is serving a 13-year sentence for his role in the Theranos conspiracy scandal, while Holmes is serving 11 years. Billy Evans, Holmes' current boyfriend who attended every day of Holmes' months-long trial in San Jose, recently stepped back into national news headlines. In additional to raising their two young children, Evans is busy these days serving as CEO of a new biotech startup company, named Haemanthus. Haemanthus revealed on X May 11, 'Yes, our CEO, Billy Evans, is Elizabeth Holmes' partner. This is not Theranos 2.0. Theranos attempted to miniaturize existing tests. Our approach is fundamentally different. We use light to read the complete molecular story in biological fluids, seeing patterns current tests can't detect. Skepticism is rational. We must clear a higher bar. The science, when ready, will stand on its own merits.' Haemanthus' X post continued, 'Elizabeth Holmes has zero involvement in Haemanthus. We've learned from her company's mistakes, but she has no role, now or future.' Holmes is incarcerated at Federal Prison Camp Bryan in Texas. Haemanthus is based in Austin, Texas, about a two-hour drive west from the famous inmate's prison cell. Before she was sent to prison, 41-year-old Holmes lived in Woodside with Evans. Evans' new company claims to be developing 'the world's first AI-native sensors for health. Our technology captures thousands of biomarkers simultaneously. We use Raman spectroscopy, which researchers use to detect cancers, Parkinson's, and COVID. We're making lab technology accessible through modern lasers and AI.' Investors who were approached by Haemanthus told the New York Times that Evans' startup is trying to raise more than $50 million. A jury found Holmes guilty in 2022 of defrauding wealthy and sophisticated investors who poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Theranos before it imploded. Meanwhile, Holmes is earning 31 cents an hour working as a law clerk for her fellow inmates in Federal Prison Camp Bryan. In her only interview from behind bars, Holmes told People magazine, 'So many of these women don't have anyone, and once they're in there, they're forgotten. Human beings are not made to be in cells.' Elizabeth Holmes reveals her new goals from behind bars Holmes passes the time by reading books, attending therapy sessions, and writing patents for new inventions. She also hasn't given up on her dream of getting back to her career in biotech, People magazine reported. 'There is not a day I have not continued to work on my research and inventions. I remain completely committed to my dream of making affordable healthcare solutions available to everyone,' Holmes said in the interview. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Miami Herald
13-05-2025
- Business
- Miami Herald
Fraudster Elizabeth Holmes' partner launches startup in same field where she failed: ‘not Theranos 2.0'
Theranos fraudster Elizabeth Holmes' partner Billy Evans has launched a startup in the same field - blood testing - where Holmes failed and ended up in prison. The company is called Haemanthus, the name of a plant called a blood lily, and on Sunday, it denied that Holmes was involved. "Yes, our CEO, Billy Evans, is Elizabeth Holmes' partner," Haemanthus said on social media platform X. "Skepticism is rational. Elizabeth Holmes has zero involvement in Haemanthus. "This is not Theranos 2.0." Haemanthus said would use a technology called Raman spectroscopy, using lasers and other light beams, and artificial intelligence, to analyze samples. "We're starting with veterinary medicine," the company said on X. "It's practical and meaningful. It validates our technology, helps animals who can't describe symptoms, and builds the foundation for human applications. Holmes, 37, has two children with Evans, a hotel heir with a bachelor's degree in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Evans was a fixture at the federal courthouse in San Jose during Holmes' four-month trial for felony fraud. Holmes is serving a federal prison sentence for bilking investors in her now-defunct, Palo Alto-based Theranos out of hundreds of millions of dollars. Jurors in her trial heard she made false claims about the company's blood-testing machines, which were touted to conduct a full range of tests using just a few drops of blood from a fingerprick, but in reality could perform only a handful. Haemanthus claimed its technology - using lasers and other light beams to analyze samples, according to a patent - follows a "different paradigm" from that of Holmes' failed startup. "Theranos attempted to miniaturize existing tests," the company said. "Our approach is fundamentally different. We use light to read the complete molecular story in biological fluids, seeing patterns current tests can't detect." The New York Times reported Saturday that it had seen investor-related materials from Haemanthus - incorporated in Delaware with offices in Austin - saying the startup had raised $3.5 million from family and friends, and that backers in the Bay Area and Texas had kicked in another $15 million. The startup intends to "scan blood, saliva or urine from pets and analyze the samples on a molecular level," the paper reported. Holmes will have no role at Haemanthus even in the future, the startup asserted, but said it has "learned from her company's mistakes." The fallen Theranos founder said in a 2023 court filing that she "continues to work on ideas for patents." Evans, asked Monday what involvement, if any, Holmes has with Haemanthus or its technology, referred this news organization to the company's X posts. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
‘This is not Theranos 2.0′: Elizabeth Holmes' partner is the CEO behind new blood-testing startup
Billy Evans, partner of incarcerated Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, has reportedly raised millions for a new diagnostic startup called Haemanthus. In a public statement, the company has said Holmes holds no formal role at the startup and insisted Haemanthus was not "Theranos 2.0." Holmes is currently serving an 11-year sentence for defrauding Theranos investors. The partner of imprisoned Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, Billy Evans, has reportedly raised millions of dollars for a new health tech startup called Haemanthus. Haemanthus, which is Greek for "blood flower," is developing AI-powered diagnostic tools using light detection technology, according to NPR. Following reports that Holmes is advising Evans on the startup from prison—where she's currently serving an 11-year sentence for misleading investors about her medical startup, Theranos—Haemanthus denied the disgraced founder had any involvement in the company. "We're Haemanthus. Yes, our CEO, Billy Evans, is Elizabeth Holmes' partner. Skepticism is rational. We must clear a higher bar," the company wrote. "This is not Theranos 2.0. Theranos attempted to miniaturize existing tests. Our approach is fundamentally different. We use light to read the complete molecular story in biological fluids, seeing patterns current tests can't detect. Not an improvement. A different paradigm." "Setting the record straight. Elizabeth Holmes has zero involvement in Haemanthus. We've learned from her company's mistakes, but she has no role, now or future," the company said, adding its mission was to combine photonics and AI to "detect disease earlier and with unprecedented precision." Haemanthus is still in its early development phase, NPR reported, citing a source familiar with the company, and has mainly raised funds from family, friends, and other supporters. It is currently leveraging light detection technology to enable AI-driven medical diagnostics, a method detailed in a patent the company secured in January. Central to its approach is something called Raman spectroscopy—a technique with applications in identifying Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and certain cancers. According to a report from The New York Times, Evans's company has marketed itself as pursuing 'human health optimization' and is developing a blood, saliva, and urine testing device that resembles Holmes's notorious Theranos machines. Fortune could not reach Evans for comment by press time. Holmes is still planning to return to the healthcare sector despite her public fall from grace. In a February interview with People magazine, Holmes said she is aiming to reenter the biotech industry after her release from prison and has been drafting patents for new inventions during her incarceration. As part of a settlement she reached with the SEC in 2018, Holmes is banned from leading public companies due to her fraud conviction. The former Theranos CEO was convicted of defrauding investors in January 2022 and sentenced later that year to over 11 years in federal prison. After self-surrendering to a minimum-security federal facility in Bryan, Texas, in May 2023, she has seen multiple unsuccessful appeals, including a recent unanimous denial by the Ninth Circuit in May 2025. Her projected release is currently set for April 2032. This story was originally featured on Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
