Theranos 2.0? Billy Evans' Blood-Testing Startup Raised $20 Million With No Product

Haemanthus, the Austin blood-testing startup run by Elizabeth Holmes' partner Billy Evans, has raised as much as $20 million and holds at least one granted patent — but has no product customers can buy and no published data proving its technology works. It has also lost its chief technology officer.

Interest in the company surged after A24 released "You Can See Everything," Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim's documentary about Evans and Holmes, on Oct. 16. Set aside the "Theranos 2.0" jokes, and one business question remains: what has Haemanthus actually built?

Who is Billy Evans?

Evans, 34, is a grandson of William and Anne Evans, who founded Evans Hotels in San Diego in 1953. The family company operates three Southern California resorts, but in an Oct. 1 statement, it said Billy Evans is neither an employee nor a shareholder.

He graduated from MIT in 2015 with an economics degree, worked at LinkedIn, then served as special projects manager at lidar startup Luminar Technologies from 2017 until January 2019, according to Forbes. His LinkedIn profile now lists only Haemanthus. Luminar filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2025 — nearly seven years after Evans left.

Evans met Holmes at a party in 2017, when Theranos was already engulfed in scandal. The couple have two children, William, 5, and Invicta, 3. Evans calls Holmes his wife, though she told People they never legally married. "Maybe we'll get married someday, but our bond is more than a piece of paper," she said.

How does the technology work?

Evans has listed himself as CEO since October 2022. Marketing materials reviewed by The New York Times describe a device that uses a laser to scan biological samples "on a molecular level," identify biomarkers such as glucose and hormones within seconds, and use AI to detect cancer and infections — from blood, saliva, and urine.

The underlying technique, Raman spectroscopy, isn't new. Forensic investigators already use handheld Raman devices to identify suspected drugs, and labs can analyze substances through plastic or glass without opening them.

Blood is a much harder problem. According to a scientific review in Applied Spectroscopy, target molecules often appear in tiny amounts with faint signals, while other blood components produce stronger signals that drown them out.

The approach is also what Haemanthus says separates it from Theranos, which claimed it could run conventional lab tests on a few drops of blood. "Theranos attempted to miniaturize existing tests," the company wrote on X in May 2025, describing its own approach as fundamentally different.

A Raman spectroscopy patent assigned to Haemanthus and granted in January 2025 names two inventors — one of them former CTO Joseph LaChapelle, according to Forbes. Several early staffers, including LaChapelle, worked with Evans at Luminar, NPR reported. UC Irvine chemistry professor Eric Potma, a company consultant, told WIRED the concept isn't pulled out of thin air, though he declined detail because of his advisory role.

A patent, though, doesn't establish that a test can accurately diagnose patients.

What's the go-to-market strategy?

Haemanthus plans to start with veterinary testing before pursuing human applications — a far less regulated market. The FDA does not require premarket approval for animal devices, though it can act against misbranded or adulterated products.

How much money is involved?

Investor materials the Times reviewed show a $3.5 million friends-and-family round, followed by a spring 2025 push targeting wealthy investors in Austin and the San Francisco Bay Area for another $15 million. The materials described an eventual wearable for humans that would take three years and $70 million to develop. WIRED later reported the company has received as much as $20 million. A person who spoke with Evans told Forbes that early Palantir employees had invested.

What does the CTO exit change?

LaChapelle told Forbes he left in March. "I resigned on March 16, 2026, due to a conflict of interest associated with a stealth startup I had founded prior to Haemanthus," he said, declining to elaborate. Evans has told it differently: the same source recalled Evans saying he let the CTO go, and describing the company as "Theranos 2.0" — a label Haemanthus publicly rejects. Evans did not respond to Forbes' request for comment.

Is Elizabeth Holmes involved?

Holmes is serving an 11-year sentence for defrauding Theranos investors at a federal prison camp in Bryan, Texas, roughly two hours from Austin. NPR, citing two sources with direct knowledge, reported in May 2025 that Holmes had been advising Evans from prison. Haemanthus denied it on X, saying Holmes had "zero involvement" and "no role, now or future." WIRED reported her name doesn't appear in incorporation documents.

The documentary muddies the picture. It shows the couple on fundraising calls, with Evans telling Fielder: "The idea is to put the band back together and do it all again." Forbes noted it's unclear whether those calls involved Haemanthus or another venture; a source close to Evans told New York Magazine the filmed project was separate and was shelved when a panel of tests still cost several hundred dollars.

Evans has acknowledged the film may backfire. Speaking at the All-In Summit before seeing the finished cut, he said: "I might think this is like the dumbest thing I've ever done."

A fight over the film's profits

The documentary reveals Evans asked for a share of its profits, worrying the filmmakers about their independence; Fielder says they reluctantly agreed. A postscript says Evans ultimately declined payment. Page Six reported Friday, citing unnamed sources, that Evans has been seeking Hollywood legal representation over a possible cut; one prominent litigator reportedly declined the case, and a source said Evans might donate any proceeds to charity.

The film has drawn far more scrutiny to Evans and Haemanthus. The company has yet to publicly show its technology can reliably detect disease, and it remains unclear when its veterinary device will reach the market — or how close its larger ambitions are to reality.