Kevin Damoa got here face-to-face with the challenges and risks of shifting freight from highway to rail as a 17-year-old U.S. Military enlistee tasked with loading tanks and Bradley preventing autos onto the railroad. It was — because the mechanical engineer and founding father of Glīd Applied sciences places it — the start of his love story with logistics.

It’s a love story that persevered by way of a 13-year stint with the U.S. Air Drive Nationwide Guard as a firefighter to his roles within the personal sector at SpaceX, Northrup Grumman, Romeo Energy Tech, and Xos Vans — to call a number of.

But it surely wasn’t till 2022, whereas engaged on the Harley-Davidson e-bike model spinoff Serial 1, that Damoa circled again to the road-to-rail downside.

“I had my come-to-Jesus second,” Damoa recalled of the pivotal second when he determined to strike out on his personal. “I appeared across the globe, and I used to be like, ‘OK, rail is damaged, ports are actually congested, roads are congested, the fatalities on roads are loopy. Why aren’t extra people utilizing rail?’ After which, my 17-year-old self tapped me on the shoulder, was like, ‘As a result of it’s onerous to get issues from highway to rail.’”

Damoa pinpointed the issue: the advanced, multi-step course of shifting a container from a ship to a freight practice. He based Glīd Applied sciences to attempt to remedy it. The California-based startup (pronounced Glide) is among the many 20 Startup Battlefield finalists competing at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025.

Glīd isn’t making an attempt to compete with trains. As a substitute, the corporate is concentrated on that first mile from port to railroad, in addition to road-to-rail functions inside giant industrial parks.

“The primary mile is the place all of your issues occur,” he stated. “That is the place you unload ships and stack up your containers after which determine the place they’re meant to go to. That course of continues to be damaged and entails a bunch of steps.”

As soon as a ship arrives at port, a crane picks up a container and masses it onto a hostler truck, a automobile used to maneuver brief distances, the place it’s then pushed to a tall stack. A forklift picks 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 choose up the container and cargo it on a freight practice, the place it waits.

Glīd has developed a number of {hardware} and software program merchandise to hurry up and scale back the price of getting transport containers to the railhead and ultimately their vacation spot. Its first is GliderM, a hybrid-electric automobile with a hook on the again that may decide up and transfer 20-foot containers on to the rail with out the necessity for forklifts of hostler vehicles.

The startup can also be creating logistics software program and an armored, low-profile platform referred to as the Rāden that may slide beneath any trailer, raise it, and transfer autonomously alongside the highway to rail.

“You’ll be able to have a look at us because the baton racer,” he stated, describing the system. “We hand that load off to the subsequent to the center mile; the secret is utilization — , what number of containers can we get inside that first mile, inside a day, in an effort to maximize or optimize our prices.”

And the fee construction is compelling. By slicing out forklifts and hostler vehicles and utilizing the railroad as a substitute of semi vehicles for supply, Damoa stated he is ready to provide the corporate’s mobility-as-a-service system at a fraction of the fee. Clients are charged a$300,000 subscription a 12 months, which provides them entry to a GliderM or Rāden and their logistics software program referred to as EZRA-1SIX. Clients are additionally charged 8 cents per ton per mile. Damoa stated that’s a deal since firms are getting a practice, truck, and a forklift multi function, plus the service. By comparability, the per ton per mile price right this moment — if the transloading, practice, and truck charges are included — is about $2.27, in accordance with Damoa.

The 14-person startup is concentrated on brief rail techniques, ports that personal the monitor, and industrial parks. Glīd has already signed offers with 4 short-line railroads in addition to the Port of Woodland in Washington, Taylor Transport out of Vancouver, and Nice Plains Industrial Park, a 6,800-acre website in Kansas with 30 miles of inside rail traces and an onsite transload facility.

Glīd’s tech and enterprise mannequin has additionally resonated with traders who see potential within the tech and enterprise mannequin.

Damoa stated the primary couple of years was onerous, noting he couldn’t pay an individual to put money into Glīd. However as soon as he went by way of the Antler startup accelerator program, which gave him important CEO and pitch expertise, the startup had extra success. Glīd acquired an funding earlier than constructing its first prototype.

The startup introduced in July it raised $3.1 million in a pre-seed funding spherical led by Outlander VC, with participation from Draper U Ventures, Antler, The Veteran Fund, M1C, and angel traders. It has since raised extra, placing its complete at $7.1 million with a post-money valuation of $35 million.

If you wish to be taught extra about Glīd from the corporate itself — whereas additionally testing dozens of others, listening to their pitches, and listening to visitor audio system on 4 completely different levels — be part of us at Disrupt, October 27 to 29 in San Francisco. Be taught extra right here.