Kevin Damoa first encountered the complex challenges of moving freight from road to rail as a 17-year-old U.S. Army enlistee. His task was loading tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles onto railroad cars, an experience he describes as the beginning of his love story with logistics.
This passion for logistics continued through a 13-year career with the U.S. Air Force National Guard as a firefighter and later in his roles at private sector companies including SpaceX, Northrop Grumman, Romeo Power Tech, and Xos Trucks. However, it was in 2022, while working on the Harley-Davidson e-bike brand spinoff Serial 1, that Damoa returned to the road-to-rail problem.
He recalls a pivotal moment of clarity. He looked at global infrastructure and saw that rail was broken, ports were congested, roads were congested, and road fatalities were high. He asked why more people were not using rail, and the answer came from his 17-year-old self: because it is hard to get things from road to rail.
Damoa identified the core issue as the complex, multi-step process of moving a container from a ship to a freight train. To solve this, he founded Glīd Technologies. The California-based startup is a finalist competing at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025.
Glīd does not aim to compete with trains. Instead, the company focuses on the first mile from port to railroad and on road-to-rail applications within large industrial parks. Damoa states that the first mile is where all the problems happen. This is where ships are unloaded and containers are stacked before their destination is determined, a process that remains broken and involves many steps.
The current process is inefficient. Once a ship arrives, a crane loads a container onto a hostler truck, which drives it to a stack. A forklift then moves the container into the stack. Later, a forklift loads it back onto a hostler truck, which drives to the railroad, where a forklift or crane finally loads it onto a freight train to wait.
Glīd has developed hardware and software products to speed up this process and reduce costs. Its first product is the GliderM, a hybrid-electric vehicle with a hook that can pick up and move 20-foot containers directly to the rail, eliminating the need for forklifts and hostler trucks.
The startup is also developing logistics software and an armored, low-profile platform called the Rāden. This platform can slide under any trailer, lift it, and move autonomously from road to rail. Damoa describes the system as a baton racer, handing the load off to the middle mile. The goal is utilization, maximizing how many containers can be moved within the first mile each day to optimize costs.
The cost structure is compelling. By eliminating forklifts and hostler trucks and using railroads instead of semi trucks, Damoa says his mobility-as-a-service system is available at a fraction of the cost. Customers pay a 300,000 dollar annual subscription for access to a GliderM or Rāden and the EZRA-1SIX logistics software. They are also charged 8 cents per ton per mile. Damoa notes this is a significant deal because companies get a train, truck, and forklift in one service. In comparison, he states the current per ton per mile cost, including transloading, train, and truck fees, is about 2 dollars and 27 cents.
The 14-person startup focuses on short rail systems, ports that own their track, and industrial parks. Glīd has already signed deals with four short line railroads, the Port of Woodland in Washington, Taylor Transport out of Vancouver, and the Great Plains Industrial Park in Kansas. This industrial park is a 6,800-acre site with 30 miles of internal rail lines and an onsite transload facility.
The technology and business model have resonated with investors. Damoa said the first few years were difficult, and he could not persuade anyone to invest. After going through the Antler startup accelerator program, where he gained critical CEO and pitch skills, the startup found more success. Glīd received an investment before building its first prototype.
In July, the startup announced it raised 3.1 million dollars in a pre-seed funding round led by Outlander VC. Other participants included Draper U Ventures, Antler, The Veteran Fund, M1C, and angel investors. The company has since raised more capital, bringing its total funding to 7.1 million dollars and achieving a post-money valuation of 35 million dollars.