Breaking startup scandal: how blood pressure medtech TLT scammed investors out of millions, with investigating reporter Sara McCorquodale
We’re covering a breaking startup scandal - the UK’s very own version of the Theranos story. This is an audio exclusive. When Sara McCorquodale, Founder and CEO of CORQ and a former journalist, first heard what Tarilian Laser Technologies had done, she knew she had to investigate their 13-year scam. This is what she found.Key takeaways Building a company on a sham blood pressure deviceWhy people still invested in TLTDoing due diligence by proxyThe ego of founders
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Show Notes
Tarilian Laser Technologies (TLT) was a medtech company founded by husband and wife team, Dr Sandeep and Nita Shah, who bamboozled everyone from the UK government to PWC. They claimed to have a revolutionary wearable blood pressure monitor, powered by a secret, proprietary algorithm. They raised millions, before everything came crashing down.
This is an audio exclusive with the journalist who just broke the story in The Sunday Times, Sara McCorquodale, founder and CEO of CORQ. When Sara, a former journalist, first heard what TLT had done, she knew it was a story she had to report on and has spent the last year investigating.
“It was just six lines of JavaScript”, said Sara, of the secret algorithm. “It was a GCSE level sum, it wasn't an algorithm, it was barely an equation. And that sum had a £52 million valuation.”
“Sandeep and Nita Shah, they were very credible characters… Usually you don't Google the person who owns the [scam] company and find search results which include them winning awards, and being endorsed by the government of their country.”
It was a 13-year scam.
How did they get away with it so long? Where did all the money go? Why didn’t anyone raise the alarm?
Links:
- The Theranos story
- Tarilian Laser Technologies
- Book - Influence: How Social Media Influencers Are Shaping Our Digital Future
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