As a 17-year-old U.S. Army volunteer tasked with loading tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles onto railroad tracks, Kevin Damore faced the challenges and dangers of moving cargo from road to rail. In the words of the mechanical engineer and founder of Glide Technologies, that was the beginning of his love story with logistics.
It's a love story that spans 13 years as a firefighter in the U.S. Air National Guard, and roles in the private sector with SpaceX, Northrup Grumman, Romeo Power Tech, and Xos Trucks.
But it wasn't until 2022, when Damore was working on Serial 1, a spin-off of the Harley-Davidson electric bike brand, that he returned to the road-to-rail issue.
“There was a moment when I believed in Jesus,” Damore said, recalling the pivotal moment when he decided to become independent. “I looked around the world and thought, 'Okay, the railways are broken, the ports are congested, the roads are congested, the number of deaths on the roads is crazy. Why aren't more people using the trains?'” And then my 17-year-old self tapped me on the shoulder and said, 'Because it's hard to get things from the road to the rail.' ”
Damoa pinpointed the problem: the complex, multi-step process of moving containers from ships to freight trains. He founded Glid Technologies to solve that problem. The California-based startup (pronounced glide) is one of 20 Startup Battlefield finalists participating in TechCrunch Disrupt 2025.
Glid isn't trying to compete with trains. Instead, the company focuses on first mile port-to-rail and road-to-rail applications within large industrial parks.
“All the problems occur in the first mile,” he said. “This is where we unload ships, stack containers, and then decide where they're going to go. That process is still broken and requires a lot of steps.”
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When a ship arrives at a port, a crane lifts the containers and loads them onto a Hosler truck, a vehicle used to travel short distances, which is then driven to a tall stack. A forklift lifts the container and moves it to the stack. Then use a forklift to load it onto a Hossler truck and drive it to the railroad. Then use a forklift or crane to lift the container and load it onto a freight train, where it waits.
Glid has developed several hardware and software products to speed up and reduce the cost of transporting shipping containers to their railheads and ultimately to their destinations. The first is the GliderM, a hybrid electric vehicle with a rear hook that can lift and move 20-foot containers directly onto the rails without using a Hostler truck forklift.
The startup is also developing logistics software and an armored, low-profile platform called Rāden that can slip under any trailer, pick up and move autonomously along roads and railways.
“Think of us as baton racers,” he explained of the system. “We move that load from the next to the intermediate mile. The name of the game is utilization: how many containers can we get within the first mile, within a day, to maximize or optimize cost.”
And the cost structure is also attractive. By eliminating forklifts and Hosler trucks and using rail instead of semi-trucks for deliveries, the company's mobility-as-a-service system can be delivered at a fraction of the cost, Damore said. Customers are charged a $300,000 annual subscription, which gives them access to GliderM or Rāden and logistics software called EZRA-1SIX. Customers are also charged 8 cents per ton per mile. Damore said it's a deal because the company brings trains, trucks and forklifts all together and also provides services. By comparison, Damore said today's cost per ton per mile is about $2.27, including transshipment, train and truck fees.
The 14-person startup focuses on short rail systems, rail ports, and industrial parks. Glide already has contracts with four short-line railroads, as well as the Port of the Woodlands in Washington, Taylor Transport in Vancouver, and the Great Plains Industrial Park, a 6,800-acre property in Kansas with 30 miles of internal rail and on-site transshipment facilities.
Glid's technology and business model are also resonating with investors who see the potential in the technology and business model.
Damore said the first few years were tough, noting he couldn't pay people to invest in Glide. But when he went through the Antler startup accelerator program, he gained important CEO and pitching skills that made his startup even more successful. Glid received investment before building its first prototype.
In July, the company announced that it had raised $3.1 million in a pre-seed funding round led by Outlander VC with participation from Draper U Ventures, Antler, The Veteran Fund, M1C, and angel investors. The company has since raised additional funding, bringing its total to $7.1 million and its post-money valuation to $35 million.
If you want to learn more about Glid from the company itself, check out dozens of other companies, hear their pitches, and hear from guest speakers on four different stages, join us at Disrupt in San Francisco from October 27th to 29th. Click here for more information.
