The partner of Elizabeth Holmes — the controversial biotech entrepreneur now serving an 11-year prison sentence for fraud — is reportedly involved in a new startup that’s raising eyebrows. According to recent reports from The New York Times, Billy Evans is working with a company that wants to use bodily fluids for medical testing, in a way that sounds oddly familiar.
The startup is called Haemanthus, and while details are still murky, it seems to be aiming high. NPR says the company wants to raise $50 million to develop a product focused on what they call “human health optimization.” That product, reportedly, would analyze bodily fluids using artificial intelligence to detect health issues — a concept not too far off from what Theranos once promised.
Haemanthus appears to be operating in stealth mode for now, meaning they’re deliberately keeping a low profile. When asked about the company, Evans told The Times, “When you're in stealth, you're trying to be in stealth. They aren't going to find anything associated with the name Haemanthus.”
Still, The Times got hold of an image of the device the company’s working on — and it looks strikingly similar to Theranos’ infamous “Edison” machine. Marketing materials seen by the outlet describe Haemanthus as “the future of diagnostics” and claim it’s pioneering “a radically new approach to health testing.” It’s not clear when — or if — this product will actually launch.
Evans has listed his role on LinkedIn as simply “X” at a stealth startup since October 2022. Before that, he worked on special projects at Luminar Technologies, a company involved in autonomous vehicle tech.
There’s also some confusion over the company’s identity. A website for “Haemanthus Laboratory” based in India was found, though it’s unclear if it's connected to Evans’ startup. Meanwhile, Newsweek found records showing a Haemanthus, Inc. registered in Texas in early 2024 as a foreign profit corporation.
Interestingly, Evans provided NPR with a redacted message from the USDA stating the proposed product doesn’t seem to fall under the agency’s regulatory oversight — at least for now.
Holmes, for her part, is currently serving her sentence at Bryan Prison Camp in Texas. She and Evans have two young children together. Her downfall was widely publicized and even dramatized in Hulu’s The Dropout, which chronicled how she convinced big players like Walgreens that Theranos’ technology could revolutionize healthcare with just a drop of blood.
A federal appeals court recently upheld her conviction, and her request for a rehearing was denied. She’s expected to remain in prison for more than seven more years.