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The Market Online

Dominating the intersection of AI, 3D modeling, and enterprise ecommerce

Welcome to the Capital Compass, I'm Lyndsay Malchuk. 3D content isn't just the future, it's the now. And (CSE:NTAR) just lit a fire under that reality. The company has inked a game changing enterprise deal for 5,000 3D models delivered in just 60 days and is openly eyeing a scale up to over 100,000. With AI powered automation, big revenue gains, and a crypto payments rollout, this is not the same Nextech3D investors remember from a year ago. The following is a transcription of the above video, and The Market Online has edited it for clarity Joining me is Evan Gappelberg, CEO of Here to break down the growth surge, the tech advantage and what's next for investors ahead of those Fiscal Year 2024 results. Lyndsay: So, let's start with what everybody is talking about right now. The massive big deal. You just signed that large enterprise deal for 5,000 3D models in just 60 days. So can you walk us through what made this deal possible and what it signals about the company's competitive edge? Evan: It's a great question. I mean, we've been pioneers in the 3D modeling space. We started out back in 2018, and in 2018 we had handheld scanners. We had to walk around a couch or a chair and scan it and then spend, you know, hours, weeks actually creating a 3D model. That was in 2018. In 2023, I placed a big bet, $10 million into using AI to try and create 3D models at scale because we were just really struggling with the manual labor part of it. So that investment is finally paying off in 2025. Right? So it took a long time. I didn't think it would take this long. I've suffered, our shareholders have suffered through the waiting, but it's happened. And so we've had the breakthrough. The AI is now doing like 70% of the 3D model production. The cost is sub a dollar for that part of it, and then you still need some human interaction. But having the human interaction is right now it's just a minimal amount. And so our costs are low relative to where they were. To give you an idea, it used to cost us like $250 to make a 3D model. Today we're able to sell the 3D models for $20 to $50 per 3D model and maintain 85% profit margins. That is a significant, a giant leap forward, and it's all because of AI. And really it sets us up for massive scale because everything still needs to go 3D, right? When you go online to shop, there's products that are 3D, but the majority still aren't. And we're actually landing deals, talking to the biggest players in retail now that we have this breakthrough. And this particular deal is quite unique because it's not a retailer, it's a tech company. And the tech company has visualization technology that requires 3D models for their tech to work. So, we're supplying them with these 5,000, which is going to scale up to a hundred thousand, and it could go into the millions because they're supplying their tech to all the retailers. And right now we're their single source supplier of 3D models. And so, it's an exciting time for us, Lyndsay. Lyndsay: Absolutely. And you've really gained quite the momentum and with that kind of momentum you've hinted at scaling over a hundred thousand models, that's a huge jump. So what kind of operational muscle do you have to pull that off? Evan: So, it's another great question. Our investors should know that we have created over a hundred thousand 3D models for Amazon. And so, we actually have the experience of doing high volume 3D model production for a top tier tech company that has extremely high standards for their 3D models. And so we've already gone through this with another big tech company. And so, for us, we're just kind of dusting off our playbook. And really going back at it again, it was about a six month pause. Because Amazon basically stopped, but we now are accelerating way faster, meaning it took us two years to deliver a hundred thousand 3D models for Amazon. We're talking about delivering these a hundred thousand before the end of the year of 2025. Lyndsay: That is phenomenal. And as you mentioned AI is doing a lot of it and that plays a big role in scaling that speed, I'm sure. Can you break down how AI automation fits into your delivery engine? Is it both in terms of volume and turnaround time? Evan: It's really everything but the short version is, and it's complex, is that we feed the AI images of the product. So, these are 2D images that are on a website. And the AI has been trained using our massive database of 3D models that we've already created to recognize what it is that it's being asked to create. And it's able to create what's called a mesh. And that mesh is kind of like a wire frame of the 3D model. And then ultimately it needs to be textured, right? So, the mesh is kind of a wire frame and then you texture it using other technology. And then from there there's a whole series of processes that we use to put the 3D model into a 3D portal so that the customer can view the 3D model, make sure the lighting's exactly right, make sure the 3D model looks exactly the right color, the right size, everything needs to be exact. And so it's quite complex. And AI plays a big role in it, but there's still some human elements. I mean, it just can't be a hundred percent automated. That is the dream, Lyndsay. We do dream about the day when you go to sleep at night and AI in the morning has your 3D model ready and it's perfect. Lyndsay: Just imagine. Evan, let's shift to the financial side if we can, because June was apparently a monster month for revenue. I mean, what changed? Are you seeing bigger deals, more clients or better retention? Evan: It's a combination of all three where we don't really go after small deals anymore. It's all high volume. So, all of our deals are on the larger size. We're also seeing renewals from our existing customers. We're able to offer them better pricing which obviously stimulates higher demand. And we're also offering hosting services for 3D models. And so, our customer base has 3D models with us and every year they need to pay for the 3D cloud hosting. And so, we charge anywhere from a $1.50 to $5 per model per month. And so if you have thousands of 3D models, that adds up to quite a significant number. And for us, it's almost all profit. Our hosting costs are quite low but we're able to charge a premium because it's not just hosting, it's hosting plus you get to view the 3D model in AR. We supply that service, plus you get a dashboard with analytics. So, you get to see what 3D model's being clicked on and which region of the world is actually interacting the most with your 3D model. So, it's really a full package, a suite of products that the customer's paying for on a monthly basis. Lyndsay: So then with that reoccurring revenue now climbing, how do you see that impacting your gross margins or cash flow picture over the next couple quarters? Evan: I was just going over this with my CFO actually yesterday and next week we're releasing our audited financial numbers for 2025. In August, we'll release our quarterly numbers. And what's happening is the ship is turning around. We're looking at going cash flow positive on an operational basis this year 2025. I'm not going to put a month on it or a quarter, but you can see it's starting to happen. We're not far away from it. It's very close to becoming a reality. And obviously that is the goal. That's always been the goal since we started as a startup with essentially zero revenue in 2018. The goal was always to go cashflow positive, and we're on the cusp right now. Lyndsay: Just right there, just almost there. Growth like this though usually means that you're building behind the scenes. So, you've been making some serious hires across sales and marketing and tech. How are these new team members shaping your 2025 game plan? Evan: They're pivotal. It's always the team. It's never an individual effort. Thankfully I have a great team behind me. We have shrunk our team down. We only have A players; we only have people that are battle tested that are really suited for this bumpy ride. And it has been a bumpy ride, but we now have the team in place. We've recently, as you mentioned hired a few new team members. Some of them are actually old team members that we went back to and rehired. And so, they have the knowledge base, and they were happy to come back. So there's a lot of positive momentum, not just in the business, but also with our team. Everybody's excited about what's happening and from a new hire perspective, we're still actually optimistic that we're going to be adding some more salespeople in Q3 and Q4 2025 to help meet the demand for the 3D models, but not just 3D models, also for our event tech business as well. Lyndsay: So Great. Now on the infrastructure side, you've now also recently moved from Liquid Web to AWS. What kind of difference is that making, whether it's speed or cost or product innovation? Evan: That was a massive, massive undertaking. And quite frankly, I don't think our investors understand. I didn't really understand how pivotal that was. We've been trying to move; it's like if you could imagine moving your house times 10. It's a big, big move. So that's kind of what it was. But now it's done, it's in the rear view. And what AWS brings that Liquid Web didn't, is the ability to scale. We could not scale with Liquid Web. It was an old school tech platform that is what some of the stuff we acquired was built on. And so, AWS is Amazon Web Services for those that aren't in the know. And so that has the ability to allow us to hyperscale our business. And that's really critical for us. If we're going to grow the business, we have to be able to scale. Lyndsay: Absolutely. That's really what it's all about. Let's talk the payments then, because you've just made a pretty forward thinking move. You're now accepting stable coins like USDC and USDT, and you've integrated ACH. So why now, Evan, how's that rollout going so far as well? Evan: So first of all, when you think about crypto and ACH payments, all it really comes down to is giving the customers what they want. It really just aligns with global trends. There's nothing really groundbreaking about it other than the fact that it's like the new payment platform with stable coins, but ACH is really old school, right? So that just allows our customers to save money when they're paying us. There's no stripe fee. There's no cost, like credit card costs, right? They could just transfer money. The stable coins allow them to save even more money, but even more than saving money, it's an instant transfer and it's global. So, it really allows our international customers, so if we have customers in North America or in the United States or in Europe or Asia, they're able to convert in their local currency to a stable coin and then pay us in the stable coin. So, it's just a easier way to do transactions. When you start wiring money internationally, it's a mess. I mean, it takes three to five days for that money to clear. And sometimes you're missing a number or a letter and it gets kicked back and on and on. So it's really about just doing things to make it easier for our customers to transact with us. Lyndsay: So, are you thinking beyond just payments here then? I mean, any plans to dive deeper into crypto or maybe smart contracts, tokenization, even blockchain asset management? Evan: It's interesting you bring that up Lyndsay, I'm a big fan of crypto. We actually, a couple years ago bought a couple million dollars in Bitcoin when it was $30,000 a coin. We were one of the earlier adopters. We did have to sell that position to pay our bills, but it was the right move. Obviously in hindsight, when you think about the future, I am looking at tokenizing some of our platforms and creating an economy around our event tech business where people could pay for their booths and pay for their events in some kind of crypto. Possibly a Nextech coin could happen on the horizon where people are able to use our own coins or coins they earn through membership on our platform. So, there's lots of discussion. It's not done deal yet, but I'm definitely looking at it because it is the future and it definitely adds value, I think, for our investors. Lyndsay: Absolutely. Couldn't agree more. Let's step back here just a little bit. I mean, this is a pivotal year for the company, as you mentioned. So, with your Fiscal Year audit results dropping at the end of this month, what should investors be watching for as clear signals that has turned the corner? Evan: I think the signals are clear, scaling our 3D model production to a hundred thousand. When we cross that threshold, I think that's a huge signal to our investors that this trend is here and it's accelerating, and our revenues are accelerating, and our profits are accelerating with it. Securing larger stickier deals and renewals is also another area that our investors should be paying attention to because we are pursuing other deals. And in discussions with other major players in the space. Obviously upgrading our infrastructure was a pillar that needed to happen. It was one of the key pieces to be able to scale the production of our 3D models. So that is something that we're gone continue to invest in. We're going to continue to invest in infrastructure so that we continue to be really bleeding edge when it comes to technology. Of course, reinforcing our team. We're going to continue to invest in the team and building more margin efficiency into everything that we do. So, we're now on the path to profitability and everything we do is really geared towards making sure that when we invest a dollar, we get a dollar plus back. So, we're always looking for things to invest in that are going to give us a ROI and right now timing is everything. Our 3D modeling business is now starting to take off and our event tech business is now starting to take off. And so, with two engines of growth I feel very confident about the remainder of 2025 and 2026 and beyond. Lyndsay: Obviously you have a lot to be confident for. I have one last question for you Evan. What are the top two KPIs that you're laser focused on hitting by year end to prove out that growth story is still going forward? Is there anything else that you want to say? Evan: I think it really just comes down to executing on everything that we've just spoken about. We have the demand; execution is another piece of the story. We've proven in the past that we're able to execute for Amazon, so I'm confident we're going to be able to execute for this new customer. And I think investors really should just pay attention to the news around our production. And as we continue to hit milestones, we're going to continue to update investors on a regular basis because we think it's important. So, it's really just paying attention to the story as it develops throughout the rest of 2025. Lyndsay: Absolutely. Well, that's all the time we do have, however, what a great conversation. And thank you again for joining us. Come back soon. Evan: Thank you, Lindsay. That was Evan Gappelberg, CEO of a company aiming to dominate the intersection of AI, 3D modeling, and enterprise ecommerce. For more, visit The company trades on the CSE under the ticker NTAR, on the OTCQX as NEXCF, and on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange as EP2. Join the discussion: Find out what everybody's saying about this stock on the Corp. Bullboards and check out Stockhouse's stock forums and message boards. The material provided in this article is for information only and should not be treated as investment advice. For full disclaimer information, please click here.