Kevin Damoa got here face-to-face with the demanding situations and risks of transferring freight from street to rail as a 17-year-old U.S. Military enlistee tasked with loading tanks and Bradley preventing automobiles onto the railroad. It was once — because the mechanical engineer and founding father of Glīd Applied sciences places it — the start of his love tale with logistics.
It’s a love tale that persevered via a 13-year stint with the U.S. Air Pressure Nationwide Guard as a firefighter to his roles within the non-public sector at SpaceX, Northrup Grumman, Romeo Energy Tech, and Xos Vans — to call a couple of.
But it surely wasn’t till 2022, whilst running at the Harley-Davidson e-bike emblem derivative Serial 1, that Damoa turned around again to the road-to-rail drawback.
“I had my come-to-Jesus second,” Damoa recalled of the pivotal second when he determined to strike out on his personal. “I seemed around the world, and I used to be like, ‘OK, rail is damaged, ports are truly congested, roads are congested, the fatalities on roads are loopy. Why aren’t extra other people the usage of rail?’ After which, my 17-year-old self tapped me at the shoulder, was once like, ‘As it’s onerous to get issues from street to rail.’”
Damoa pinpointed the issue: the complicated, multi-step procedure transferring a container from a boat to a freight teach. He based Glīd Applied sciences to take a look at and remedy it. The California-based startup (pronounced Drift) is likely one of the 20 Startup Battlefield finalists competing at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025.
Glīd isn’t seeking to compete with trains. As a substitute, the corporate is all for that first mile from port to railroad in addition to road-to-rail packages inside of huge commercial parks.
“The primary mile is the place your entire issues occur,” he stated. “That is the place you dump ships and stack up your packing containers after which determine the place they’re supposed to visit. That procedure remains to be damaged and comes to a number of steps.”
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As soon as a boat arrives at port, a crane selections up a container and quite a bit it onto a hostler truck, a automobile used to move brief distances, the place it’s then pushed to a tall stack. A forklift selections up the container and strikes it into the stack. Later, a forklift is used to load it again onto a hostler truck, which then drives over to the railroad. A forklift or crane is then used to select up the container and cargo it on a freight teach, the place it waits.
Glīd has evolved a number of {hardware} and instrument merchandise to hurry up and scale back the price of getting transport packing containers to the railhead and sooner or later their vacation spot. Its first is GliderM, a hybrid-electric automobile with a hook at the again that may select up and transfer 20-foot packing containers without delay to the rail with out the desire for forklifts of hostler vans.
The startup could also be growing logistics instrument and an armored, low-profile platform referred to as the Rāden that may slide underneath any trailer, carry it, and transfer self sustaining alongside the line to rail.
“You’ll be able to have a look at us because the baton racer,” he stated, describing the device. “We hand that load off to the following to the center mile; the secret is usage — you understand, what number of ontainers are we able to get inside of that first mile, inside of an afternoon, so as to maximize our optimize our prices.”
And the fee construction is compelling. By way of reducing out forklifts and hostler vans and the usage of the railroad as a substitute of semi vans for supply, Damoa stated he is in a position to be offering the corporate’s mobility-as-a-service device on the fraction of the fee. Consumers are charged a$300,000 subscription a yr, which supplies them get entry to to will get a GliderM or Rāden and their logistics instrument referred to as EZRA-1SIX. Consumers also are charged 8 cents in keeping with ton in keeping with mile. Damoa stated that’s a deal since corporations are getting a teach, truck, and a forklift multi function, plus the provider. By way of comparability, the in keeping with ton in keeping with mile price as of late — if the transloading, teach, and truck charges are incorporated — is ready $2.27, in step with Damoa.
The 14-person startup is all for brief rail methods, ports that personal the monitor, and commercial parks. Glīd has already signed offers with 4 brief line railroads in addition to the Port of Wooded area in Washington, Taylor Shipping out of Vancouver, and Nice Plains Commercial Park, a 6,800-acre web page in Kansas with 30 miles of inner rail strains and an onsite transload facility.
Glīd’s tech and industry style has additionally resonated with traders who see possible within the tech and industry style.
Damoa stated the primary couple of years was once onerous, noting he couldn’t pay an individual to put money into Glīd. However as soon as he went throughout the Antler startup accelerator program, which gave him vital CEO and pitch abilities, the startup had extra good fortune. Glīd gained an funding sooner than construction its first prototype.
The startup introduced in July it raised $3.1 million in a pre-seed investment spherical led through Outlander VC, with participation from Draper U Ventures, Antler, The Veteran Fund, M1C, and angel traders. It has since raised extra, placing its general at $7.1 million with a post-money valuation of $35 million.
If you wish to be informed extra about Glīd from the corporate itself — whilst additionally testing dozens of others, listening to their pitches, and being attentive to visitor audio system on 4 other phases — sign up for us at Disrupt, October 27 to 29 in San Francisco. Be informed extra right here.
