A new startup called Haemanthus, which may have been in the works for several years now, has reportedly raised millions of dollars already, and the general outlines of it are strikingly similar to the disgraced Theranos, which Elizabeth Holmes co-founded with Sunny Balwani over two decades ago.

Just days after Holmes, 41, was denied the possibility of an appeal of her conviction at the Ninth Circuit for the second time, leaving the Supreme Court her last and unlikeliest option for an appeal, the New York Times reports that Holmes's partner of eight years, Billy Evans, has been working to launch a blood-testing startup. Evans has held a few jobs in tech, like a stint at LinkedIn, but his only ties to the healthcare industry would seem to be through Holmes — who is under court order not to be working in the industry or starting any companies for ten years.

As People Magazine noted in February, at the time of Holmes's first big public interview since her incarceration, Evans's LinkedIn page showed that he was working on something called "Stealth Startup," which he has since changed to say "Not So Stealth Startup." That job experience, currently the only one on Evans's page, shows that it began in October 2022, one month before Holmes was sentenced to 11 years in prison for defrauding investors in the Theranos case.

Haemanthus, named for an African flower species known as the blood lily or paintbrush lily, certainly sounds like a name that might have sprung from the mind of a woman who named her only daughter Invicta, and her first company Theranos, but I digress.

Per the Times, Haemanthus has around $20 million in the bank and about 10 employees at this point, some from Evans's failed self-driving car startup Luminar, and is aiming to raise $50 million to begin blood, urine, and saliva testing in animals. Evans would not comment on the startup, but told the Times that the company has already received word from the USDA that its nascent testing device — which "bears more than a passing physical resemblance to Theranos’s infamous blood-testing machine" called Edison, the Times writes — would not fall in its jurisdiction, if it were only used for veterinary diagnostics.

The device purportedly uses light and "tunable lasers" to test blood, urine, and saliva samples.

A statement from Haemanthus, posted to X on Sunday, sounds a bit defensive.

"We’re Haemanthus. Yes, our CEO, Billy Evans, is Elizabeth Holmes’ partner. Skepticism is rational. We must clear a higher bar," the statement says.

“This is not Theranos 2.0. Theranos attempted to miniaturize existing tests. Our approach is fundamentally different. We use light to read the complete molecular story in biological fluids, seeing patterns current tests can’t detect. Not an improvement. A different paradigm.”

The statement continues, "Setting the record straight. Elizabeth Holmes has zero involvement in Haemanthus. We’ve learned from her company’s mistakes, but she has no role, now or future." The company adds that the Times report, and NPR, "implied" that Holmes was perhaps involved in Haemanthus, but this was incorrect.

"We've stayed quiet to build real tech, not conceal. Demonstrating, not promising," the company says.

It is certainly next-level bold and bizarre — and potentially a violation of a court order — for Holmes to be anywhere near a new company looking to do essentially the same thing that her disgraced and defunct company fraudulently claimed to be doing. But she already hinted in the People interview that she was working on new "inventions" every day, and had every intention of being an entrepreneur when she gets out of prison in 2032.

And do they really expect to convince us that she had nothing to do with the idea for this company, which according to Evans's own LinkedIn page started before she was sentenced — around the time that she was pregnant with a second child that seemed oddly well timed to argue for delays or lightening of her sentence?

The couple told People that Evans brings their two kids to see Holmes at FCI Bryan, in Bryan, Texas, twice a week, and he's reportedly been living with the kids in Austin, about 100 miles away. And what are they discussing on these twice-weekly visits,  besides the kids, if not a bit a business?

Holmes's lawyer has declined to comment on this latest revelation, and Holmes continues to maintain that she was wrongfully convicted. A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit disagreed, concluding that even if the judge made an error in one aspect of the trial, it would not change the overwhelming evidence proving the fraud perpetrated by Holmes and Balwani — luring hundreds of millions of dollars in investments while they knew that their Edison machines were not capable of what they said.

As the Times notes, a Haemanthus investor presentation "makes no mention of Mr. Evans’s connection to Ms. Holmes."

Holmes was convicted by a jury in January 2023 and later sentenced 11 years behind bars. That sentence has since been reduced to nine years and seven months for good behavior, and is not expected to be reduced any further, so she is due out in 2032. In addition to the prison sentence, she and Balwani have been ordered to pay restitution on the order of $452 million to their former investors.

People learned in February that Holmes has been working as a reentry clerk, helping inmates at FCI Bryan work on their resumes and such. For this, she's been earning 31 cents per hour.

Previously: Not Shockingly, the Ninth Circuit Has Rejected Elizabeth Holmes's Appeal

Top image: Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes alongside her boyfriend Billy Evans, walks back to her hotel following a hearing at the Robert E. Peckham U.S. Courthouse on March 17, 2023 in San Jose, California. Holmes appeared in court for a restitution hearing. (Photo by Philip Pacheco/Getty Images)