VICIS develops advanced football helmets engineered to reduce the effects of collisions through a soft outer shell and several layered protective systems. Its flagship Zero1 adult helmet retails for $950 and was developed after $20 million of R&D over three years with athletes, engineers and neuroscientists. With the new $28.5M Series B, the company is launching its first helmet specifically for youth players, priced at $495. The youth model is tuned for the impact velocities expected in youth play, weighs under 4 pounds, and offers the widest field of view among kids' helmets. VICIS frames the launch around safety needs for roughly 2 million U.S. youth football players and cites sports as the cause of 21% of traumatic brain injuries annually. The company plans to expand its technology into other sports and has a contract to provide a tailored version of its helmet to the U.S. Army and Marine Corps. VICIS is a Seattle-based sports-technology company focused on developing highly engineered football helmets to improve protection and performance. Its flagship product, the ZERO1, was shaped by leading athletes, engineers, and neurosurgeons and ranked first in the 2017 NFL/NFLPA Helmet Laboratory Performance Testing. The company announced an additional $10 million in funding to support the ZERO1's commercial launch to NCAA and NFL fields in fall 2017, bringing total capital raised to nearly $40 million. The round was led by Harry Fath and a syndicate of sports-medicine physicians investing via the angelMD platform and included over 25 investors; historical backers named in the announcement include prominent spine and neurological surgeons, current and former NFL players, the Peregrine Group, W Fund, Alliance of Angels, and Trilogy Equity Partners. Since being made available in spring, players across the NFL have used the ZERO1 during organized team activities, and VICIS reported exceptional initial feedback and player adoption. CEO and co-founder Dave Marver said the new funding will allow the company to continue investing in technologies that protect athletes and elevate performance. Vicis develops the ZERO1 football helmet, a multilayer product engineered to improve impact absorption and deliver an anatomically optimized fit. The helmet resulted from more than two years of development in close collaboration with elite equipment managers and athletic trainers. It was slated to be available to select NFL and NCAA teams in the spring and worn in competition during the 2016/17 season. The company was co-founded in 2013 by Per Reinhall, Samuel Browd, and Dave Marver, bringing mechanical engineering, pediatric neurosurgery, and medical-technology industry expertise. Vicis intends to use its financing to commercialize the helmet and, after launching with NFL and NCAA programs, plans to expand into high school, youth, and other sports.

Total raised

$47M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Series B

Latest activity

Nov 2018