The Growing Popularity of Cold Therapy Technology: The Startups Racing to Cash In

Not long ago, plunging into freezing water on purpose was the preserve of Wim Hof devotees and Nordic sauna traditionalists. Today, it’s a fully-fledged consumer technology category, complete with app-controlled chillers, venture funding rounds and a growing shelf of hardware brands competing for space in gyms, spas and suburban gardens alike.

Cold therapy, whether delivered through ice baths, chilled tubs, cryotherapy chambers or wearable cooling devices,  has moved from niche biohacker ritual to mainstream wellness habit. And where consumer demand goes, investors and entrepreneurs tend to follow. 

Cold Therapy: The New Mainstream Wellness Category

Cold water immersion has genuine physiological effects that go some way to explaining its appeal. Cold exposure around 14°C has been linked to sharp increases in dopamine and norepinephrine release, which helps explain the mood-lifting, energising effect users report after a plunge. Beyond the neurochemical buzz, advocates point to reduced muscle soreness, improved circulation and stress-resilience benefits, claims that have made cold exposure popular among elite athletes, fitness enthusiasts and increasingly, office workers looking for a morning reset.

The Social Media Boom Behind Cold Therapy

The trend has been turbocharged by social media and high-profile endorsements. Podcasters, biohackers and fitness influencers have spent the last few years turning ice baths into content, while celebrities and professional sports teams have publicly embraced cold immersion as part of recovery routines. That visibility has pulled cold therapy out of elite sports science labs and into everyday wellness culture, sitting alongside saunas, red light therapy and wearable recovery trackers as part of a broader ‘biohacking’ movement.

Crucially, this cultural shift has coincided with real technological progress. Where cold therapy once meant literally filling a tub with bags of ice, a new generation of hardware now automates the entire process, chilling, filtering and sanitising water without manual refills and increasingly offering smart, app-connected controls that let users schedule sessions, track temperature and monitor water hygiene from a phone.

How Big is The Cold Therapy Market?

Market analysts don’t fully agree on the numbers, which is itself a sign of a category still finding its footing- but the direction of travel is unmistakable. Several industry reports place the global cold plunge tub market at somewhere between $350 million and $390 million in 2026, with most forecasts pointing to steady annual growth through the early 2030s. Grand View Research, for instance, values the market at roughly $381.7 million in 2026, expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 8% to approach $660 million by 2033. North America currently accounts for the largest share of that spend, around 39% of global revenue, with commercial buyers such as gyms, spas and recovery clinics representing over 80% of sales, though residential demand is growing faster than the commercial segment.

The Startups Already in The Cold Plunge Market

A handful of companies have emerged as the standout names in the space, each carving out a distinct position. 

Plunge

Plunge has become something of the category leader in the US direct-to-consumer market, reportedly crossing $100 million in annual revenue as demand for its app-connected chiller tubs surged. The company has also demonstrated notably efficient paid marketing, with reported customer acquisition costs in the hundreds of dollars against average order values near $5,000- a ratio that has clearly caught investor attention.

Renu Therapy

Renu Therapy, a California-based, handcrafted cold-and-hot plunge maker, has positioned itself at the premium end of the market with products like the Cold Stoic 3.0, a dual-temperature unit combining app controls, a touchscreen interface and enhanced filtration, aimed at buyers who want both recovery and design credibility in their home wellness setup.

Morozko Forge

Morozko Forge, often described by reviewers as the ‘Rolls-Royce’ of ice baths, targets the top of the market with premium-engineered units designed for serious enthusiasts and commercial installations.

Funding within The Market

On the funding side, capital raises in this space so far tend to be smaller than the mega-rounds seen in adjacent digital health categories, but they’re growing more frequent. Clearwater Wellness Co., for example, secured around $1.84 million in funding to support the global rollout of its SnowCap product, a thermoelectric ice bath marketed as requiring no ice, plumbing or external chiller, having already generated roughly $700,000 in pre-sales before its official launch. That pattern,  modest early-stage rounds backing hardware innovation aimed at removing friction from the cold therapy experience, looks set to repeat as more entrants chase the ‘no ice, no plumbing, no hassle’ positioning that increasingly defines the category’s cutting edge.

MedTech is Interested in Cold Therapy, Too

Cold therapy is also drawing interest from adjacent medtech and clinical players. Post-operative cold compression device makers and cryotherapy equipment manufacturers, long established in physical rehabilitation settings, are seeing renewed relevance as consumer familiarity with cold therapy grows, blurring the line between clinical recovery equipment and consumer wellness hardware.

Why Are Investors Paying Attention to The Cold Therapy Market?

Several forces are converging to make cold therapy tech an appealing category for founders and funders alike.

A Crowded But Still-Fragmented Market

Unlike more mature wellness hardware categories, no single company yet dominates cold plunge tech the way a handful of brands dominate, say, smart rings or fitness trackers. That fragmentation creates room for differentiated entrants, whether on price, design, portability or smart features, to carve out meaningful market share.

High Margins and Strong Direct-to-consumer Economics

With flagship products often retailing between $3,000 and $15,000, cold plunge hardware carries healthy margins by consumer hardware standards and reported advertising returns for leading brands suggest real, durable demand rather than a short-lived fad.

Recurring and Expanding Demand

As with home gym equipment during the pandemic, cold therapy hardware benefits from a broader shift toward recovery, longevity and preventative wellness being treated as investments rather than indulgences, a trend that shows little sign of reversing.

Commercial Channel Growth

Boutique gyms, recovery studios, hotels and spas are increasingly adding cold plunge stations as a differentiator, creating a B2B sales channel alongside the consumer market, and giving hardware makers a second, more predictable revenue stream beyond one-off home purchases.

Adjacent Technology Convergence

The integration of app connectivity, water quality sensors, ozone and UV filtration and energy-efficient chiller technology means cold therapy hardware increasingly resembles a connected IoT product rather than a simple tub, opening the door to software, subscription and data-driven business models layered on top of the core hardware.