Near Amazon's South Lake Union campus in Seattle is a nondescript, white, single-storied building. Inside, workers at Vicis are designing and testing technology with mechanisms used by the U.S. Army and the NFL.

As awareness of concussions increases at all levels of football, more programs are trying to find the edge, not just against their competition, but in the health of their players. Soon, the Vicis "SmashLab," where they test helmets the same way the NFL does, could be where your football-playing children's helmets are designed and tested, too — if you can afford one. The company promises a revolutionary technology that bends and buckles similar to a car bumper to reduce impact, as opposed to traditional hard-shell helmets. But its signature Zero1 helmet sells for $950, while the newly released youth model goes for $495 — both more expensive than their competitors, often by a wide margin.

In three years, the startup has achieved astronomical growth. The Zero1 helmet has beaten out its legacy competitors in impact tests by the NFL and Virginia Tech for three years. A recent Harborview Medical Center study — the first field test at the high-school level — showed a statistically significant decrease in concussions when teams adopted the Vicis helmet (though it couldn't be directly attributed to the helmets). It's expected to be worn by players on all 32 NFL teams and more than 125 collegiate programs next season.

CEO Dave Marver said the youth helmets are specifically designed for younger players, rather than just "adult helmets with lightweight shells."

"Sure, the 2,000 NFL players were important," Marver said. "But there are millions of kids that are playing now. That's our cause. This is what drives us."

But the company will face a challenge with the cost — between $40,000 and $50,000 (it's nearly twice that at the high-school level) for a youth sports program, money that nonprofit programs are unlikely to have.

So far, most Vicis customers at the high-school level have been private schools. Across the country, players at more than 1,200 high schools will wear the VICIS Zero1 in 2019, but most are individually purchased.