As Theranos investors like Don Lucas (Michael Ironside) began to question Holmes's credibility and attempted to fire her, the third episode of "The Dropout" sees Holmes claim she has a $20 million investment for Theranos — but only if she's kept on as CEO and the investor is brought on as COO. The board doesn't know the investment is from Balwani until much later.
While Balwani really did give Theranos a loan, it was a little less in real life. In the second episode of "The Dropout" podcast, it's revealed in court testimony from Balwani that the sum of his loan was $13 million.