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Can someone explain to me how Theranos is worth $9 billion? Everytime I hear about them, their "technology" sounds so sketchy that it's hard to think it is not
by skosuri 12y ago
Can someone explain to me how Theranos is worth $9 billion? Everytime I hear about them, their "technology" sounds so sketchy that it's hard to think it is not a scam. Is there so much promise behind closed doors that I'm just missing something that's worth that much?
- bdcs 12y agoSupposedly you can go to Walgreens and get a test from Theranos.
- gmarx 12y agoThe Walgreens on University ave., yes
- tanzam75 12y agoI can believe that their technology works. I've been hearing about this sort of stuff for ten years before I first heard of Theranos. Search for "lab on a chip." There are grad students working on this sort of stuff at every major research university. However, the $9 billion valuation feels bubblish. Consider that Quest and Labcorp are both $10 billion companies, and Theranos is talking about driving down the price of testing. They need a lot of elasticity in this market to make the numbers work out.
- coralreef 12y agoBlood testing is ideally (and realistically) something EVERYONE should have access to, and should probably be done yearly. The potential market is anyone who receives health care.
- eitally 12y agoAnd for any non-Americans around here, a [reasonably] complete blood panel in the US will carry a ~$1000 price tag, which insurance may or may not cover.
- easytiger 12y agoA complete blood profile in uk from a private clinic (completely non NHS) is £95.00 + say £160.00 for hormone screening. So yea, that still doesn't make sense.
- krschultz 12y agoIt's hard to put a number on it. I can get the basic screen at a doctor in the US for $200. Throw in some more specific stuff, it goes up to $1500 or so. I have a medical condition that requires a blood test every 4 months in that price range. Thankfully insurance covers it, but checking one box on the list of things to test increases the price 800% for reasons that I don't understand.
- gmarx 12y agoWhy and why?
- minthd 12y agoMaybe the idea is much higher profit margins than labcorp + potential for larger demand(painless blood tests,fast results, and general trends in medicine) + potential overseas ,since it's basically a tech company, not a services company. But with lab-on-chip having moore's law like economics, won't competition come sooner or later, and crush the market?
- dr1337 12y agoWhile the tech looks sketchy, the company looks even sketchier. Look at the About Us page - https://www.theranos.com/our-company https://www.theranos.com/our-company One employee listed and a whopping sized board of directors, most of which come from the government or the military. Smells like something straight from the military industrial complex.
- dnautics 12y agothere are many employees, in fact, their profile on glasswindow has lots of anecdotes of employee burnout.
- tlrobinson 12y agoInteresting contrast to the Dropbox / Condoleezza Rice backlash. And Theranos has access to your DNA...
- mattlutze 12y agoIt really looks like their biggest malady is a junior web PR team. A lot of the web site looks and reads like someone had a lot of good ideas but hadn't really run/written for large projects (like a major corporate web site) before.
- puranjay 12y agoThey use the word "actionable" right at the very beginning Classic rookie copywriter mistake.