Battery-free cooling gear for the global workforce

This article is a part of Startup Spotlight, a series that features young, up-and-coming startups.

Image credit: Timmy Loen

While conducting international development fieldwork, Tiffany Yeh experienced the physical toll of extreme heat firsthand.

She watched local laborers struggle in dangerous temperatures without access to reliable cooling options. This inspired the physician and materials scientist to invent a passive cooling technology and launch Eztia.

😟 Problem

Heat stress affects 70% of the global workforce, representing roughly 2.4 billion people worldwide. This exposure results in over 23 million workplace injuries and 18,000 deaths annually.

Extreme heat reduces global labor capacity by an estimated US$863 billion each year. Adaptive actions and lost productivity cost low-income countries up to 6.1% of their gross domestic product.

💡 Solution

Eztia engineers HydraVolt™, a proprietary cooling material that integrates directly into existing clothing and protective gear. The technology provides the following capabilities, including: 

• Absorbs body heat to reduce skin temperature by around 10°C for up to eight hours.
• Recharges completely in 30 minutes using only water.
• Functions entirely without batteries, electricity, or refrigeration.
• Remains dry to the touch and maintains user mobility during strenuous labor.

Photo credit: Eztia

📊 Market size

Extreme heat represents a rapidly growing risk to global worker productivity and health. Eztia targets a near-term serviceable opportunity of US$1 billion within enterprise worker safety.

The company is initially focusing on a serviceable market of 20 million frontline workers across Southeast and East Asia.

The broader addressable market for passive cooling materials exceeds US$40 billion across defense and public safety sectors.

🤝 Team

• Tiffany Yeh. CEO and co-founder. Physician and materials scientist trained at the University of Pennsylvania and MIT.
• Jack Wilson. COO and co-founder. US Army Special Operations Command veteran and director of NYU’s Veterans Future Labs.
• Darryl Tan. APAC GTM lead. Commercial strategist with over a decade of experience across life sciences and vision care.

🚀 Traction

🏆 Competition

💰 Financials

🚩 Risks