The Fallen Unicorn of Silicon Valley
2022.03.08.
by Orsolya Jakots

A concept that could have changed the dynamics of day-to-day life has evolved into a disappointing outcome. As the Start-Up world now knows, Theranos is the so-called Silicon Valley?s disaster. We dedicate this article to spread light of what happened exactly in this historical time of event.

How did it all start?

Theranos was a company founded in 2003 by Elizabeth Holmes, earlier Stanford student and dropout, with the help of her own tuition fund. The concept of the company was to revolutionise blood testing with the help of a machine that is able to run hundreds of tests. It was confirmed that Theranos will be able to perform hundreds of tests which have have supposedly included checking cholesterol levels, or complex genetic analysis. Theranos assured that its Edison test would be able to detect conditions such as cancer and diabetes relatively fast without the hassle of needles. Scientist previously stated it is too good to be true. However, Holmes had a vision to create a sort of equipment that would eliminate needles from drawing blood and be replaced by a blood prick.

Between the foundation and the fraud

Elizabeth Holmes in the years of 2010?s has became successful who lead a company worth of $9 bn for allegedly attending the revolution in diagnosing serious diseases.

When did it all begin to fall apart?

Reportedly, It started to resolve in 2015 when an individual raised their concern about the testing device of Theranos, Edison. The Wall Street Journal wrote a series of damning exposes claiming the results were unreliable and that the firm had been using commercially available machines made by other manufacturers for most of its testing.

How did the situation evolve?

Lawsuit came long, many partners have exited and in 2016 US regulators prohibited Elizabeth Holmes from operating a blood-testing service until 2018. By 2018, the company Holmes founded had collapsed due to the technology?s malfunction. Holmes was exposed as a fake. In 2018, the US charged Elizabeth Holmes and her business partner, Ramesh Balwani, with nine counts of wire fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Afterwards, she was released on bail in 2019 and she got married to William Evans. She became pregnant and gave birth to her child in July 2021.

The outcome

Elizabeth Holmes was found guilty on January 3rd, 2022 on four counts of criminal fraud against investors. She was acquitted on four counts tied to patients. She faces up to 20 years in prison for each of four counts that led to a conviction in her federal fraud trial.

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