Theranos

Founded in 2003 by then-19-year-old Elizabeth HolmesElizabeth Holmes, Theranos raised more than US$700 million from venture capitalists and private investors, resulting in a $10 billion valuation at its peak in 2013 and 2014. Investors and the media hyped Theranos as a breakthrough in the large blood-testing market, where the U.S. diagnostic-lab industry posts annual sales of over $70 billion. Theranos claimed its technology was revolutionary and that its tests required only about 1/100 to 1/1,000 of the amount of blood that would ordinarily be needed and cost far less than existing tests.