Elizabeth Holmes’ Partner Reportedly Seeking Investors for New Blood Testing Startup

Billy Evans, partner to Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, is setting up a new venture named Haemanthus, which seeks to advance “human health optimization” through blood testing, as reported by The New York Times.

The Times interviewed two investors who examined the startup’s materials and got a sneak peek at its offerings.

According to these materials, Haemanthus has developed a device that employs lasers to analyze blood, saliva, and urine samples for detecting cancer and infections. The startup plans to initially target veterinary health before branching out to human applications, with a goal of raising over $50 million in funding.

This effort echoes Theranos, which claimed it could conduct various medical tests using small blood samples from finger pricks. Elizabeth Holmes, who shares two children with Evans, was sentenced to 11 years in prison for investor fraud in 2022; however, in a recent interview, she affirmed her commitment to “providing affordable healthcare solutions for everyone.”

Jim Breyer, an early Facebook investor, informed The Times that his team was approached for investment but opted to decline “for many of the same reasons we passed twice on Theranos.”