INHECO Industrial Heating & Cooling

What INHECO Industrial Heating & Cooling does

Inheco GmbH (renamed from Inheco Industrial Heating and Cooling GmbH in November 2025) is a privately held German engineering company founded in 2000 in Martinsried near Munich by Günter Tenzler, a former TU Munich thermodynamics researcher. The company designs, manufactures, and sells on-deck reaction-control devices — thermal cyclers, controlled-gas cell incubators, heater-shakers, and Peltier-based heating/cooling plates — that slot into automated liquid-handling workstations used in pharmaceutical, biotechnology, diagnostics, and academic research laboratories. Its flagship technologies include the patented VCM® (3D Vapor Chamber Mount) thermal-cycling architecture with near-sonic heat transfer and the SCILA four-position CO2 cell incubator; all devices are SiLA-compliant and ship with documented APIs for integration into ANSI/SLAS-format decks.

The product portfolio spans thermal cycling (ODTC®), cell incubation (SCILA, SCILA MIX, Single Plate Incubators, Incubator Shaker), combined heating/cooling and shaking (Thermoshake AC/Classic/LC, Teleshake family), and Peltier-based temperature control (CPAC, CPLC, HeatPAC), supplemented by TEC controllers, more than 200 adapter plates, and verification tools (IMP, OVT). The company serves two intertwined go-to-market motions: direct enterprise sales to big-pharma, biotech, diagnostics and research customers through regional sales managers in EMEA, APAC and the Americas (with wholly-owned subsidiaries in the US and Taiwan), and an OEM channel providing customized thermal devices that are embedded in third-party liquid-handling platforms.

Revenue mechanics combine catalog hardware sales, full-cycle OEM custom development (concept through series production under ISO 9001:2015), recurring service contracts with fixed monthly fees and annual portfolio reviews, equipment rentals during repair windows, and technical-support/training services. Pricing is quote-based with multi-year contracts typical. The company is founder-led, self-funded (no external investment rounds disclosed), and has scaled organically from 5 employees in 2000 to 140+ employees serving 250+ customers across 46 countries, with a step-change growth pulse during the COVID-19 PCR testing cycle in 2020.

Name

INHECO Industrial Heating & Cooling

Legal name

Inheco GmbH

Website

https://inheco.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2000

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Inheco GmbH designs and manufactures SiLA-compliant on-deck thermal cyclers, CO2 cell incubators, and heater-shakers for automated liquid-handling platforms used by big pharma, biotech, diagnostics, and academic labs across 46 countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Laboratory Automation Equipment

NAICS

Automatic Environmental Control Manufacturing for Residential, Commercial, and Appliance Use (334512), Ventilation, Heating, Air-Conditioning, and Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturing (33341)

SIC

Air-Cond & Warm Air Heatg Equip & Comm & Indl Refrig Equip (3585), Industrial Process Furnaces & Ovens (3567)

akta.pro primary industry

General Lab Equipment (Centrifuges, Incubators, Shakers, Ovens) (HLAGAIAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Refrigeration Components & Controls (Compressors, Valves, Sensors) (IMAHAKAH), Heat Transfer Equipment (Heat Exchangers, Boilers, Condensers) (IMAHAEAC)

Keywords

• Lab automation devices
• Thermal cycling equipment
• Cell incubation systems
• Automated liquid handling
• PCR thermal cyclers

Headquarters

HQ city

Planegg

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Lab Automation Hardware Sales: Sale of on-deck reaction control devices including thermal cyclers, incubators, shakers, heaters, and coolers for automated liquid handling platforms. Both standard catalog products and customized OEM products.
2. OEM Custom Product Development & Manufacturing: Full-cycle OEM services from R&D concept through prototyping, verification/validation, and series production for customers' own branded products or customized Inheco devices.
3. Service Contracts: Tailored service agreements covering maintenance, repair, calibration, and technical support for entire device portfolios, with fixed monthly fees and annual portfolio reviews.
4. Equipment Rentals: Rental equipment provided to customers during device repair periods to minimize downtime. Can be added to service contracts as standing inventory or rented ad-hoc.
5. Technical Support & Training Services: Technical support including webinars for product training, error identification, device manager usage, and repair guidance. Also includes recalibration and RMA services.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

INHECO develops, manufactures, and distributes on-deck reaction control devices for automated liquid handling platforms used in life sciences, diagnostics, and research labs. Its portfolio includes thermal cyclers (ODTC®), CO2 cell incubators (SCILA), heater-shakers (Teleshake, Thermoshake), and Peltier-based heating/cooling units (CPAC, CPLC, HeatPAC), as well as OEM custom-engineered devices and supporting accessories such as adapter plates and verification tools.

Product overview

Inheco manufactures market-leading on-deck reaction control devices for automated liquid handling platforms. The product portfolio includes thermal cyclers (ODTC® with patented VCM® technology), CO2 cell incubators (SCILA with 4 positions), incubator shakers, heater/shakers (Teleshake and Thermoshake series), and Peltier-based heating/cooling devices (CPAC, CPLC, HeatPAC). Products are controlled via TEC controllers (STC/MTC) and supported by accessories including adapter plates, measurement tools (IMP, OVT), and heated lids. The ecosystem enables precise temperature control, shaking, and gas control for applications including PCR, NGS library preparation, cell culture, and automated biochemical workflows. All devices are SiLA-compliant and API-compatible for seamless lab automation integration.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ODTC®: On Deck Thermal Cycler – a fast, uniform thermal cycler that fits onto automated liquid handling decks.
• SCILA
• SCILA MIX
• Thermoshake
• Teleshake
• CPAC
• CPLC
• HeatPAC
• VCM®
• TEC Controller

Products and services

• ODTC® (On Deck Thermal Cycler) Fast, uniform thermal cycler for PCR and NGS sample preparation that fits on-deck of automated liquid handlers; features patented VCM® 3D vapor chamber technology for rapid heating/cooling with temperature uniformity across all wells.
• SCILA CO2 4-Position Cell Incubator Ultra-compact four-position controlled-gas cell incubator for automated cell culture with CO2 control, humidity management, and rapid gas recovery for maximum variability in minimal deck space.
• Single Plate Incubator Shaker Compact incubator with integrated shaking for cell cultures; provides heating, programmable shaking modes (linear, orbital, elliptical, figure-8), and contamination protection.
• Single Plate Incubators Temperature-controlled microplate incubator with stacking capability for increased throughput; available in MP and DWP versions with rapid 10-minute heat-up time.
• Thermoshake AC LC Heating, cooling and shaking device with liquid cooling capability; combines precise temperature control with orbital shaking for NGS library preparation and magnetic bead-based extraction.
• Thermoshake AC Combined heating, cooling and shaking device with auto-clamping technology for loads up to 500g; precise temperature control from 4°C to 70°C with orbital shaking up to 3000 rpm.
• Thermoshake Classic Combined heating, cooling and shaking device using voice coil motor technology; temperature range 4°C to 70°C with linear and orbital shaking modes from 100-2000 rpm.
• Teleshake 95 AC USB High-performance compact heater-shaker with integrated controller and USB connectivity; auto-clamping for secure plate fixation with heating up to 125°C and shaking up to 3000 rpm.
• Teleshake 95 AC High-performance compact heater-shaker with auto-clamping for variable plates up to 500g load; temperature control up to 125°C with orbital shaking 200-3000 rpm.
• Teleshake 95 High-performance compact heater-shaker with linear and orbital shaking modes; temperature range ambient+5K to 125°C with 100-1800 rpm oscillation for 96-well and 384-well plates.
• Teleshake AC USB Compact shaker with integrated controller and USB connectivity; auto-clamping for various disposables with orbital shaking up to 3000 rpm for loads up to 500g.
• Teleshake AC High-mass shaker with auto-clamping for wide choice of disposables; orbital shaking 200-3000 rpm for loads up to 500g.
• Teleshake Compact benchtop shaker for 96-well and 384-well plates; speed range 100-2000 rpm with 2-3mm amplitude in linear or orbital modes.
• Teleshake 1536 High-speed shaker for 384-1536 well plates with 4000-8500 rpm oscillation; compact 56mm height design with adjustable amplitude 0.1-1mm for small volume samples.
• CPLC – Cold Plate Liquid Cooled Heater/Cooler Liquid-cooled heating and cooling device for closed systems requiring high thermal performance; fast, precise and stable temperature control for automated workstations.
• CPAC – Cold Plate Air Cooled Heater/Cooler Air-cooled Peltier-based heater/cooler in Ultraflat design (80mm height) occupying one ANSI/SLAS plate position; available in standard (4-70°C) and HT 2-TEC (4-110°C) versions.
• HeatPAC – On-Deck Heater Compact on-deck heater reaching temperatures up to 135°C in a 40mm profile; designed for precise sample heating with PT100 sensors and 100W heating capacity.
• OEM Solutions Custom device development, OEM product manufacturing and thermal management consulting, including R&D capabilities, prototyping, verification/validation and product transfer from R&D to series production under ISO 9001:2015.

Quantifiable outcome

• 37°C temperature uniformity of ±0.2°C across all wells in ODTC
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers7 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles5 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

Feature8 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• ITD of UniBW München (University of the Federal Armed Forces Munich)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023Joint research partnership with the Institute of Technical Thermodynamics (ITD) at UniBW München, funded by the Bavarian Research Foundation (BFS), investigating temperature control and mixing processes in microwells for processing biochemical samples using optical measurement methods (BioPro project).
• Beckman CoultercoreTechnology or IntegrationInheco SCILA has been integrated into Beckman Coulter liquid handling workstations, enabling automated cell culture for malaria research and serving as the world's first automated solution for blood cell culture research.
• Fraunhofer IPA/nICLAScoreTechnology or IntegrationFraunhofer Institute validated Inheco SCILA for automated cell culture and cell-based assay applications, providing independent scientific verification of the device's performance and suitability for laboratory automation.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Eppendorf: Eppendorf is a global life sciences equipment maker offering thermomixers, shakers, incubators and PCR consumables that overlap with Inheco's heater-shaker, incubator and thermal cycling portfolio, although Eppendorf is far larger and more diversified across consumables and benchtop instruments.
• Thermo Fisher Scientific: Thermo Fisher supplies Applied Biosystems thermal cyclers and a broad lab automation portfolio that competes with Inheco's ODTC for PCR/NGS workflows. It is a deep-pocketed incumbent that bundles instruments, reagents and services.
• Agilent Technologies: Agilent provides automated sample preparation, NGS and lab automation solutions (Bravo, NGS Workstation) that compete in the same pharma/biotech workflows where Inheco's ODTC and shakers are deployed.
• Bio-Rad Laboratories: Bio-Rad manufactures thermal cyclers (C1000, CFX) and digital PCR systems that overlap with Inheco's ODTC for PCR applications, especially in life science research and diagnostics customers.

Direct peers

• Hamilton Company: Hamilton manufactures automated liquid handling workstations and on-deck accessories for life sciences, directly comparable to Inheco's integration with and supply into the Hamilton Microlab STAR and similar platforms.
• Tecan: Tecan is a leading provider of laboratory automation platforms (Freedom EVO, Fluent) and OEM components. It is a direct comparable in liquid-handling workstation integration and on-deck thermal/incubation devices.
• Beckman Coulter Life Sciences: Beckman Coulter's Biomek liquid handling workstations integrate Inheco's SCILA cell incubator; as a workstation OEM it is both a partner and a competitor in on-deck device design. Comparable business model around platform-integrated lab automation.

Emerging players

• Hettich Instruments: Hettich supplies centrifuges, incubators and shakers for clinical and research labs. Smaller and more focused than Eppendorf but overlapping with Inheco's incubator and shaker product lines.
• Julabo GmbH: Julabo specializes in temperature control solutions (recirculating chillers, heated circulators) used in lab and industrial settings. It overlaps with Inheco's CPLC liquid cooling and CPAC Peltier-based heating/cooling products.
• Torrey Pines Scientific: Torrey Pines Scientific makes benchtop chilling/heating plates and incubators for life science labs, a niche but comparable offering to Inheco's HeatPAC and CPAC on-deck heaters and coolers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/inheco-gmbh

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about INHECO Industrial Heating & Cooling