Theranos: A Fallen Unicorn [Video]

Theranos Inc., a consumer healthcare technology startup, was once valued at $10 billion, and its leadership claimed it would revolutionize the blood-testing industry. The $10 billion valuation made the company a decacorn, a term that plays off the term unicorn, applied to $1 billion valued start-up companies.

However, the technological breakthrough that CEO Elizabeth Holmes and former company president Ramesh Balwani touted was never demonstrated, and the assertions of Holmes and Balwani amounted to outright deceit.

Holmes was accused of purposefully lying to investors and patients, as well as lying about the company’s profitability. Holmes and Balwani were ultimately charged by the SEC for massive fraud. The two executives agreed to settle subject to court approval.

Theranos was a privately held healthcare technology company founded by then 19-year-old Elizabeth Holmes in 2003.

Using a “nanotainer” (a small device designed to draw, retain, and analyze a droplet of blood from a patient’s fingertip) and its proprietary “Edison” testing technology, Theranos claimed the device …