Welkins

What Welkins does

Welkins is a small U.S. medical device and engineering services company that designs, manufactures, and sells liquid-cooling thermoregulatory systems. Founded in 2004 by former NASA scientist Bill Elkins, the company's core technology derives from Elkins' 1960s work on spacesuit and life-support liquid cooling garments, refined over five decades through multiple predecessor companies — Life Support Systems, Inc. (1980), Life Enhancement Technologies, Inc. (1995), and CoolSystems, Inc. (1998). The firm employs 1–10 people and operates from LaGrange, Illinois. Chief Operating Officer Christopher Blodgett oversees operations alongside founder Elkins.

The flagship product is the FDA 510(k)-cleared EMT/ICU Temperature Management System — a non-invasive, microprocessor-controlled liquid cooling platform covering a 30°C–37°C range, comprising a portable 12-pound field unit for pre-hospital use and a touchscreen ICU unit for hospital use. The proprietary Cooling Headliner, a patent-pending head-neck cooling pad with pneumatic over-pressure integrated with a universal cervical collar, targets selective brain cooling in cardiac arrest, stroke, head trauma, and sports-related concussion. Welkins also markets warming systems, cold/heat exchange pads, and a Sideline Cooling System for athletic use. Core safety and regulatory compliance includes UL 60601-1, IEC 60601-1-2, IEC 60601-1-6, and ISO 10993.

Revenue is generated through two streams: hardware sales of cooling systems, pads, and accessories, and professional engineering services — including new product development, rapid prototyping, reverse engineering, validation testing, and low-volume specialized manufacturing — sold to government and private-sector customers. Distribution is hybrid: Spartan Medical holds exclusive rights to sell Welkins products to the U.S. Government, including the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs, while direct contact-based sales serve hospitals, emergency medical providers, athletic organizations, and research institutions. The company has supported past military field deployments — Solomon Islands (1991), Middle East (1992–1993), Honduras (2006) — and has received DoD SBIR/STTR funding since 2010.

Name

Welkins

Legal name

Welkins, LLC

Website

https://welkinsmed.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Welkins is a small Illinois-based medical device company that develops FDA-cleared liquid-cooling thermoregulatory systems for hospitals, emergency medical services, military, and athletic markets, built on NASA-derived spacesuit cooling technology. It also sells engineering, prototyping, and low-volume manufacturing services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Medical Temperature Management Devices

NAICS

Electromedical and Electrotherapeutic Apparatus Manufacturing (334510), Ventilation, Heating, Air-Conditioning, and Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturing (3334), Heating Equipment (except Warm Air Furnaces) Manufacturing (333414)

SIC

Electromedical & Electrotherapeutic Apparatus (3845), Air-Cond & Warm Air Heatg Equip & Comm & Indl Refrig Equip (3585), Refrigeration & Service Industry Machinery (3580)

akta.pro primary industry

Heat Exchangers & Thermal Transfer Equipment (IMAHAKAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Heat Transfer Fluids (IMAEAMAG), Cold Chain & Temperature-Controlled Storage Equipment (IMAHAKAJ)

Keywords

• Therapeutic cooling systems
• Medical temperature management
• Liquid cooling garments
• Battlefield cooling devices
• Rapid prototyping services

Headquarters

HQ city

Downers Grove

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Cooling System Hardware Sales: Sale of therapeutic cooling systems including EMT (field/portable) and ICU (hospital) units, along with cooling pads and accessories for various body applications.
2. Engineering Services: Dynamic engineering services provided to government and private sector customers across the product development lifecycle, including new product development, rapid prototyping, reverse engineering, testing and evaluation, and low-volume specialized manufacturing.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Welkins designs, manufactures, and sells FDA-cleared liquid-cooled thermoregulatory devices — most notably the EMT/ICU Temperature Management System with its patented-pending Cooling Headliner — for therapeutic hypothermia, patient temperature management, military heat stress mitigation, athletic performance, and industrial safety. The company also provides engineering services including new product development, rapid prototyping, reverse engineering, R&D, validation testing, and low-volume specialized manufacturing to government and private sector customers.

Product overview

Welkins offers a family of innovative thermoregulatory devices and engineering services. The core product is the FDA-cleared EMT/ICU Temperature Management System, which includes both portable field units and hospital ICU units. The system uses the proprietary Cooling Headliner (a head-neck pad with pneumatic over-pressure) as its primary cooling interface. The product portfolio spans therapeutic cooling systems, warming systems and suits, cold/heat exchange pads, and custom-designed applications serving medical (hospital, emergency, pre-hospital), military, athletic, and industrial markets. All products are manufactured in the USA.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• EMT/ICU Temperature Management System FDA-cleared liquid-cooled thermoregulatory device that controls patient temperature within 30°C to 37°C for therapeutic hypothermia; comprises a portable 12lb field (EMT) Conditioning Unit and a touchscreen hospital (ICU) Conditioning Unit for use from point of injury through transport and ICU.
• Cooling Headliner Patented-pending head-neck cooling pad with pneumatic over-pressure to improve patient contact and cooling rate, integrated with a universal cervical collar for streamlined field and emergency medical deployment.
• Therapeutic Cooling Systems In-house therapeutic cooling product line including portable cooling units and pads for temperature management in hospital, pre-hospital, and field settings.
• Warming Systems and Suits Thermal regulation products for warming patients and personnel in medical, military, and industrial environments.
• Cold and Heat Exchange Pads Flexible cooling and heating pads for various body parts and applications, including integrated cerebral cooling and cervical stabilization devices.
• Sideline Cooling System Portable head-neck cooling device designed for athletic use at sidelines and field settings to enhance performance and recovery.
• Engineering Services Dynamic, cost-effective engineering services for government and private sector customers across the product development lifecycle, including new product development, rapid prototyping, reverse engineering and drafting, R&D, validation testing, product cost and manufacturing optimization, and low-volume specialized manufacturing.

Quantifiable outcome

• Therapeutic hypothermia increases survival by 31% and quality of survival by 41% (HACA Study Group, NEJM)
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Penn State Center for Sport Concussion ResearchcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 5 March 2015Co-funding research program exploring effects of brain cooling on sports-related concussion. Welkins provides temperature management systems and funding alongside Spartan Medical for groundbreaking concussion research led by Professor Semyon Slobounov.
• Spartan MedicalcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 9 October 2012Sales and distribution agreement giving Spartan Medical exclusive rights to sell and distribute Welkins' microenvironment cooling products to U.S. Government, including the Department of Defense (DoD) and Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Spartan Medical is veteran-owned and provides first-class sales and support organization across the nation.
• University of Illinois College of Medicine / Beckman InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-standing collaboration with Dr. Huan Wang, Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery and Director of Thermal Neuroscience Laboratory at Beckman Institute. Collaboration began in 2001 on therapeutic cooling devices for head trauma and stroke patients, leading to successful pilot study published in Journal of Neurosurgery 2004.
• TNE EquitiesminorOthersListed as partner on company partners page.
• SigEnixminorOthersListed as partner on company partners page.
• ThermaquilminorOthersListed as partner on company partners page.
• Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEEX)minorOthersListed as partner on company partners page.
• NorthShore University HealthSystemcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerHealthcare system conducting pilot study using Welkins' cooling systems in cardiac OR and ICU. Dr. Paul Pearson, Cardiovascular Surgeon at NorthShore, is using Welkins' technology for patient temperature management during heart surgery.
• Cornerstone ConsortiumminorOthersWelkins is a member of the Cornerstone Consortium, an Other Transaction Agreement (OTA) vehicle for government contracting.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• ZOLL Medical (Becton Dickinson): ZOLL's Thermogard XP and Intravascular Temperature Management products compete directly with Welkins' EMT/ICU Temperature Management System in targeted temperature management for cardiac arrest, stroke, and ICU applications. As a Becton Dickinson subsidiary, ZOLL has substantially greater clinical evidence, sales coverage, and hospital penetration.
• Medivance (Becton Dickinson): Medivance's legacy Arctic Sun product line is the dominant surface-cooling targeted temperature management platform in U.S. hospitals. Direct competitor to Welkins in the same indication space, with deeper formulary penetration and broader published clinical evidence.

Emerging players

• Attune Medical: Attune Medical markets the ensoETM esophageal cooling device, a novel approach to core temperature management competing with Welkins' surface/liquid cooling approach. Smaller player focused on a specific modality but targeting the same clinical indications (cardiac arrest, fever reduction, cooling in surgery).
• BrainCool AB: BrainCool develops RhinoChill and BrainCool System for pre-hospital and hospital cooling, including oncology and sports medicine applications. Closely comparable to Welkins in therapeutic focus and multi-segment strategy (medical, military, athletic), though geographically focused on Europe.

Regional players

• Biegler GmbH: Biegler manufactures warming and cooling medical devices, including forced-air warming and targeted temperature management systems used in European hospitals. Comparable as a smaller medical thermal regulation specialist, though primarily serving the European market.

Broad incumbents

• 3M (Bair Hugger): 3M's Bair Hugger is the dominant patient warming system in U.S. hospitals and overlaps with Welkins' warming systems and suits product line. As a broad incumbent, 3M has overwhelming sales coverage but does not specialize in the targeted cooling niche Welkins pursues.
• Smiths Medical: Smiths Medical (now ICU Medical) offers patient warming and temperature management products used in perioperative and ICU settings. Comparable as a broader medtech player with overlapping warming product lines, though not focused on Welkins' targeted hypothermia niche.
• Stryker: Stryker is a broad medical device incumbent with emergency medical, surgical, and ICU product lines that intersect with Welkins' hospital and pre-hospital cooling applications. Comparable as a potential acquirer or distribution partner rather than direct cooling competitor.
• Gentherm: Gentherm specializes in thermal management technologies for automotive and medical markets, including patient warming/cooling solutions. Comparable as a broader thermal technology specialist, though with much larger scale and different primary end markets.

Others

• Polar Life Haus: While primarily a cold therapy/medical cold chain equipment manufacturer, Polar Life Haus represents adjacent thermal technology providers serving sports medicine and rehabilitation markets where Welkins' Sideline Cooling System competes.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Compliance5 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 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 Welkins