Theranos’s Elizabeth Holmes jailed for 11 years: How have diagnostics startups been affected?

​HAS INVESTOR SCEPTICISM BEEN OVERPLAYED?

Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of bogus blood testing startup Theranos, has been sentenced to over 11 years in prison for defrauding investors. 

The conclusion to Silicon Valley’s so-called Trial of the Century — which spawned its own TV series, books and a dedicated podcast — serves as a warning to investors looking to back breakthrough technologies. Theranos was shut down in 2018 after employees blew the whistle on the company’s supposedly revolutionary technology that just didn’t work, but not before deal-hungry backers had pumped $900m into it. 

While the saga might have initially made VCs more wary of diagnostics startups, a recent Pitchbook report suggests that investor attitudes are shifting — a number of blood testing startups have picked up VC backing this year.

So how has Theranos’s downfall affected Europe’s diagnostics startups?

Sifted spoke to investors and founders in the sector to ask whether the fallout from the trial might have its positives, and what the future holds for the sector.

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