Well, good morning or good afternoon, depending on where you are. I'm Steve Darling with Proactive, on a beautiful day in Vancouver, British Columbia, our worldwide studios here at Proactive, as we present another live stream event, this time bringing you another update on Nextech3D.ai. We're gonna talk about a lot of different things about the company, most specifically is the work that they're doing with Amazon, and why that is so key for the company, not only now, but into the future as well. Joining us a little later on in the broadcast will be the Chief Operating Officer, Reza Davariar, who's really responsible for that account with Amazon, and works with them on a daily basis. As always, joining us will be the CEO, Evan Gappelberg, to talk more about what's going on with the company. We're glad you're with us.
If you'd like to participate, we invite you to do that just by simply, adding you to the chat feature, ask any questions you like, and we'll pass those along to our guests. There you see Evan Gappelberg, CEO, of course, Nextech3D.ai. Evan, welcome back. Good to see you again.
Thanks, Steve. Great to be back with you.
Yeah. It's, I know that you really wanted to come on to talk a bit about the partnership between your company and Amazon, and just how significant this is. Before we get into that part of it, let's take a step back here and talk about getting in the doors of the mighty Amazon, because Amazon obviously is a major company. They do a lot of business around the world, and they do things in a certain way, and you have to adapt to them. They do not adapt to you.
Yeah. You know, look, Amazon, I think it's just very, very important for our investor base to understand the Nextech story and how important Amazon is to our story. If you go back, remember, we used to own and operate a bunch of E-commerce sites ourselves. While we were waiting for the 3D mega trend to kick into gear, we were owning and operating a vacuum cleaner website, you know, selling high-end Dyson and Miele vacuum cleaners. We also had a pet supplement business at one point. Guess what, Steve? 70% of our revenue for those businesses was generated through our Amazon site. We had Shopify sites, we had, you know, other websites, but 70% was Amazon. We learned all the way back in 2019, 2020, that Amazon was the key to our business success.
We could not survive as an e-com site without Amazon. Let's be clear about that. When we in 2019, 2020, we were just selling, you know, product, we were dreaming about being able to make 3D models for Amazon. That was the goal, that was part of the vision. Today, that vision is a reality. I don't think our investors fully understand how big a deal it is, which is why we're having this live stream today, to take our investors deeper into the Amazon world, to understand how big Amazon is, how important they are to have as a customer. As an e-com 3D model supplier, having Amazon is transformational. It has transformed our company. We'll have Reza kind of explain some more about what he deals with when he's...
You know, he's basically managing, as you said, the Amazon account for Nextech.
Yeah. What were the initial conversations like with Amazon, or initial work that you did with Amazon? Was it a lot of like, let's see what you can do first?
Yeah
... testing, things like that? Is that was a big part of this?
Yeah. With Amazon, you know, you have to go through a process. They have to approve you as a corporation. You have to be in business for at least three years, they really prefer five. Really, Amazon put us through a whole series of tests where they gave us 10 3D models to make for them within an allotted period of time, and they had to meet a very, very high standard. They had to be photorealistic. All the materials have to be 4K, which means, you know, they have to be super bright. Yeah, everything had to be turned around in a very, very short amount of time. That was just like, you know, one bar.
They sent us hundreds of models and had us go through another series of tests, and we passed with flying colors, which is why we're continuing to work with them, and why they turned us into not just a 3D model supplier, but a preferred 3D model supplier. I do wanna go a little deeper into Amazon, and I want our investors to kind of, again, understand how big it is to have a supply agreement. It's not like any company can just get a supply agreement with Amazon. As I said, you have to go through the wringer, and they consistently test us. It doesn't end. They're constantly raising the bar, they're constantly testing our capabilities, and they constantly tell us that we're the top company that they work with for 3D models.
If you think about today, I can't imagine living in a world where we can't have anything we need, get delivered right to our door by Amazon. I mean, every day, the Amazon guy is bringing something to my door. You know, they are the largest e-com market in the US. It's just a huge company. I just wanna go into some stats. I'm just gonna kinda go through some statistics that I think our investors should be thinking about when they think about Nextech, and you think about the next wave of growth for our business. Amazon, the app, which is what our 3D models really live in, they're not really on their website. Amazon uses their 3D models, I think, exclusively at this point for their app.
They have over 200 million monthly active users. They have about 70% of the US market, which is coincidentally about 70% of our sales, was when we had the e-com sites, was Amazon. Basically, 70% of the US shops on Amazon. They have 12 million products. Their total sales has exceeded a half a trillion dollars. It's just a monster number, and, you know, Amazon wouldn't be as big as they are today if people didn't actually choose to shop there. Why do we shop at Amazon? I know I do it because it's just insanely easy. You go on Amazon, you search for a product, their AI algorithm brings you to the product that you're searching for, you add it to your cart, you click purchase, and it sends.
The goods, you know they're gonna get delivered, it's a virtual guarantee within one to three days. They're always on time. There's always an Amazon delivery showing up. It's like the FedEx of packages. You know, whenever lawyers send documents out, they always use FedEx. They never use UPS because it's like a guarantee that the product, the package, shows up. Same thing with Amazon. They have over $2.7 billion unique monthly visitors that come to their site. That's double what eBay has with 885 million. If you look at Walmart, it's not even close. Walmart only has something like 400 million compared to Amazon's $2.7 billion. You know, landing Walmart, landing Target, landing all these other e-com sites, which, you know, of course, we've talked about, it's not as big.
It's not even close to as big as landing Amazon. Nine out of 10 Americans buy product from Amazon, and, you know, think about that in relation to Nextech supplying Amazon with 3D models. Do we actually even need another account? I would argue no, but we do. We do have other accounts, but I honestly don't think we need another account because when Amazon opens up Seller Central, which they will, it's just going to be kind of an all you can eat for Nextech in terms of making 3D models. You know, they ship something like 18 orders per second. They have 150 warehouses, and this is a statistic that kind of blew my mind as I was doing all this research for you. A million and a half employees.
That's right, Amazon has 1.5 million employees. That is just a massive number of people that work as delivery drivers, factory workers, you know, even that even accounts for the guys that we deal with, with 3D, the 3D modeling. You know, if you think about Amazon, there's about 340 million products that are sold on the Amazon website. That is, again, just a massive number. If you look at the growth of Amazon, and this is a key piece to the puzzle, from 2005 to 2020, Amazon's annual revenue grew by 45x. Think about that. That is explosive growth for a big company, and that is not stopping. It isn't stopping. It is continuing to grow at an explosive rate.
In fact, today, this is a shocker, I mean, this is, these are the facts, less than 20% of all sales are done online. E-commerce only represents about 16% of all commerce. In the next decade, maybe decade and a half, that number is gonna move to 95%. Everything is going online, everything, which means Amazon is just gonna get bigger and bigger and bigger. Why is having Amazon as a customer so critical for Nextech? I'm gonna try and make it super simple for our investors. Revenue and profitability. Amazon's large scale and customer base can provide Nextech with a significant ramp to grow our 3D modeling business and become just a juggernaut ourselves, where we're basically jumping on the coattails of Amazon, where they're now pivoting from 2D to 3D.
The thing is that they haven't publicly announced this. We're serving as a supplier. We're a partner. We know what we're. You know, every day, we're making 3D models, but Amazon, you try and find a press release that says that Amazon is converting products from 2D to 3D. It's not in the public domain yet. You guys know because you're an investor in Nextech. The volume of our orders is consistent and can grow quite substantially as Amazon goes public with the news that they're all in on 3D, which, again, I've mentioned a few times, I believe is imminent, meaning Q3. If you think about the market reach, Amazon, they have this, you know, vast customer base, a global presence. Being their partner, it provides us access to millions of potential customers, literally millions.
It also allows us brand validation. When you go to Nextech's website and you're trying to learn, like, you know, "Should I hire Nextech to make 3D models, or should I hire somebody else?" Being associated with a reputable and globally recognized brand like Amazon has enhanced our company's credibility and reputation. No doubt about it. We get inbound calls, and they see the Amazon logo on our site, and they see that we're a 3D model supplier, and they know that's the gold standard. They know it. They know it's a stamp of approval. It instills confidence. We really don't lose business. When someone comes in our front door, we have, like, a 100% close ratio. It's really that significant. It didn't used to be that, but it is that today.
If you look at, you know, other partnerships, and other opportunities, you know, working closely with Amazon can open doors to further business opportunities, further partnerships. I mean, you know, they have a vast ecosystem, and we're constantly developing new technologies. We constantly are looking for ways to leverage into Amazon. You know, the last piece is really it gives us a competitive advantage. Having Amazon as a customer provides us with a competitive edge over rivals who don't have a relationship with Amazon. It acts as a barrier for entry for competitors as partnering, you know, partnering with Amazon really demonstrates a level of trust and reliability that the bigger brands look for, and that will make it very challenging for new entrants to overcome when it comes to, you know, supplying other E-commerce sites.
really, having Amazon as a customer sets us head and shoulders above above the rest. That's kind of the bull case for, you know, Amazon, like actually investing in Amazon. Like, I'm thinking maybe I gotta buy some stock in Amazon, but you could also own Nextech and participate in the growth because we are going to grow with the Amazon ecosystem.
A lot there. A lot of things to say. I want to, I want to unpack a bit of it because obviously there's a lot of questions coming in from people. First off, I wanna take it back to what you said earlier about Amazon and their shift and how they publicly have not announced that they're planning to do that. 'Cause you can say, "Hey, we work with Amazon," till you're blue in the face, if Amazon were to say the opposite, that could be significant for the company. Do you think that's, that is a step that may come in the future, that they would acknowledge that, "Hey, here's one of the partners we're working with"? Do they do that?
They have told us, and my COO, who is gonna come on in a little bit.
Yeah.
- can confirm. They've told us that when they open up Seller Central. Let's be clear, Steve. We are part of Seller Central's build-out.
Right.
Nextech's technology is being implemented on Amazon Seller Central so that when they open up Seller Central. Remember, there's 10 million merchants, 340 million products. They can't manage all that manually. It has to be automated. We have automation. We're using AI. That's kind of our secret sauce. We have automation, where we can load thousands of 3D models onto their site. They currently check visually the 3D models. There's some automation, but it's not fully automated. I'm talking about quality assurance.
For them to get to the point where Nextech is loading 3D models onto Seller Central for these 10 million merchants, where, you know, you could be talking about thousands of models a day, it has to be automated on their end, where there's no human, you know, 'cause there's just too many bits of information...
Yeah
flying around, right? All that is what they're building with Nextech, right? The point is that we, you know, we have an insider's view as to what's happening there, but we don't know everything, obviously. We're not Amazon.
Right.
What we can say, though, definitively, is that it's being built, that this is happening. What we cannot say definitively is exactly when it's gonna be built.
Right. Sorry, Evan. I didn't mean to interrupt you there. Right now, talk to me a little bit about the increase in model building and what you've been doing this year. 'Cause I know you've put out some statistics recently about how many you've been able to do for Amazon-
Yes
... so far. Is that going to be a ever-increasing number for the rest of this year? With that, does that connection come to more revenue as well?
It does. Let's be clear. Amazon is a steady customer.
Mm-hmm.
They provide us, you know, they have a couple of million SKUs themselves, and they are converting those, couple of million SKUs. Now, Nextech is one of the preferred suppliers. We're not the only one. They've told us there's a handful of companies, but they have told us that we are their, you know, like, favorite, let's say. Now, having said that, to get the real explosion in business, which we all want, we're all, you know, kind of posturing for, they need to open up Seller Central, right? They know that. They've told us that.
They say, like: "Look, when we open up Seller Central, like, you know, get ready." That's kind of the moment, in my view, when Nextech starts to really see the exponential growth that all of our investors are working for, you know, waiting for, including us. Until then, we are growing, and we're seeing the Amazon business steady as she grows. Again, you know, like, most of the SKUs on Amazon's site are not Amazon SKUs. They're actually, you know, part of these 10 million merchants SKUs. Until they open that up, I mean, that's demand that's literally sitting on the sidelines, that's not in this whole 3D transformation.
If you remember how big Amazon is, they're so big that when they open, Seller Central, it is like a tidal wave of new demand that comes onto the market, you know, essentially when they come out with that press release. That's kind of what we are positioned for as a company. That's what our AI is positioned for, to be able to allow us to scale. That's what we work on every day to get positioned for that. In the meantime, our business is growing. As Reza will talk about, we have other sites that are, you know, continuing to order.
You know, we just put out a press release, I think last week, about new customers and new orders, and we're working with, you know, the biggest brands around the globe, not just in North America. I'm just gonna repeat over and over, they are small potatoes compared to the Amazon king. The king, you know, the king is the king for a reason, you know? When they open up their Seller Central, there will be. We believe, at least I believe firmly, and my team does an absolute explosion in business for us. Until then, it's growing with...
You know, listen, this, I mean, you saw our quarterly report in Q1, which was kind of a signal that 3D modeling has arrived, the key here is Amazon and Seller Central.
Okay. Just on that Seller Central, they haven't given you any idea about when that's going to happen, but you expect it to happen this year? They... I think I remember they were supposed to open it recently.
Yes.
Are you expecting it this year?
It's already, you know, kind of overdue, right?
Yeah.
In other words, they told us Q4 2022, Q1, Q2. Yeah, we're in Q3. I can't see them opening it up in Q4 because that's their busy season, right? 'Cause, you know, that would be total chaos for them.
Yeah.
I'm predicting that it happens in Q3. I mean, the train has left the station. They're already making 3D models, you know, with Nextech. They're already populating. If you go into the Amazon app, you'll see a whole bunch of 3D models in there. It's already happening.
Yeah.
That, you know, it's already happening, but as far as, like, an actual day and a date...
You don't have.
I don't have that.
Yeah. Okay, we're gonna bring Reza in here in just a second, but I just wanna ask you just one more question. That is, you mentioned obviously how significant Amazon is, and we get that. What about outside of, outside of Amazon? You mentioned they're small potatoes. There is large markets in Asia, in Europe, and other places as well.
Yeah.
Is that a big part of the, of the scenarios as well?
Until Amazon opens up Seller Central, we continue to sign up new customers, new deals. We do expect, though, that when Amazon does open up Seller Central, that we are gonna be inundated with business. Between now and then, we continue to sign up new customers in Asia, in Europe. I think we signed up last week, the 2nd-largest furniture company in all of Europe. I know that we have Wesfarmers Group in Australia. They control the biggest brands in Australia, and I know that they continue to order thousands of 3D models from us. I know CB2, we've supplied them with thousands of 3D models, and they continue to renew. I mean, business is going.
Yeah.
Business is going. Again, you know, you're talking about, you know, like, it's hard, you know, I've explained how big Amazon is, you know, a $500 billion-dollar Goliath versus, you know, these other companies. It's just. They're just towering over everybody else at 70% market share. Everybody else is important to us. There's no customer that's not important to us.
Right.
In terms of the exponential growth that we're all looking for, where revenue goes, you know, to $50 million or $100 million, I just don't see that happening until Amazon opens up Seller Central.
Okay. Lastly, just before we bring in Reza, the last question on this part is, are you at a place right now within the company and the way that you have designed the system to be able to handle the, you know, the potential for Seller Central? Because right now, you can make, you know.
Yeah
... you know, 20, 30, whatever, 1,000 models.
Yeah.
What you're talking about is way more than that.
Yeah, yeah.
Capacity-
Yeah
to be able to do that, my question.
Yeah. I think we're the only ones actually that can deliver on that. I think that our generative AI technology gives us that leg up on anybody else within the Amazon ecosystem. I think when it comes to large scale production, Nextech is the best positioned. Are we fully built? No. As discussed, we expect that we will be fully built by the end of 2023. Fully built means our AI is doing the vast majority of the production. Right now, the AI is continuing to get stronger, continuing to do more and more of the 3D model production. Until the AI is, you know, doing, like, the vast majority of it, like 90%.
You know, nobody's gonna be able to compete with us, but, you know, in terms of getting to like massive scale, it really is about the AI.
Okay, let's bring in Reza Davariar. He is the Chief Operating Officer for Nextech3D.ai, joining us now for the first time on one of our live stream events. Reza, nice to meet you. How are you?
Hi, Steve. Nice to meet you, too.
Yeah.
Here for the first time.
Yeah, it's exciting to have you and to talk a bit more about Amazon. You know, Evan is the one who sort of paints the picture, but you're the one that brings them the ink, because you're the one who talks to Amazon on a daily basis. In your assessment, tell me where you're at with Amazon?
Sure, sure. As a matter of fact, Evan did the whole picture.
Yeah.
He got everything from end to end.
Yeah.
You know, just going what Evan said regarding Amazon, yes, it is true, it is our number one customer, but I have to extend that is not just a customer, it's a partner. Because of the nature of the business that we are doing with Amazon right now, before they open their Seller Central, there are a lot of work needs to be done to deliver the customer expectation. Now, I just wanna reemphasize again what Evan says about hundreds of millions of products are going to the 3D models. Merchants are pivoting from 2D, flat photos to 3D, experiences in E-commerce world. He talked about the AI power, which we are continuously improving internally by our AI associates and engineering team to enable the E-commerce business to showcase their products and in the ecosystem of the 3D modeling.
Amazon, being the one who's leading in the market right now, as Evan mentioned, there are more than 10 million merchants, and that is amazing. You can see, I have to say that there are a lot of other E-commerce. I know they are very small, but they are following where Amazon is going right now, because they have to be able to convert their website, their models that they are presenting to the customer to be more interactive and to be able to increase the conversion. Ultimately, whether they are E-commerce on the site only or they are retail brick and mortars, they have to be able to take advantage of this showcasing for the customer to decrease returns and get other ROI. Of course, Nextech, we are in that channel.
We are not trying to go to the next level based upon what we've done last year, including onboarding with Amazon. We are at that level. In order for us to get to Amazon Seller Central, it's all about timing and when Amazon is ready. Again, I have to say, based upon my communication with Amazon, there is a lot of work needs to be done on their Dev side, on their website, and including them, be able to take care of their customers that are gonna provide their product on the Seller Central to be supported by 3D model supplier like us. Yes, they do have other 3D model supplier, but we are preferred. We are top choice.
Yeah.
The reason we are a top choice or we are preferred is not by accident. We deliver.
Yeah.
There are many performance metrics that needs to be met. We don't even meet, we exceed the expectation as well. Amazon's on a daily communication, weekly, and even monthly communication that we have as a team, it proves that internally, we are very much in tune and locked in operationally with our staffing, with the engineering team, with management, supervision, everybody that works through the Amazon's workflow, continuously, we are improving. Improving it every day will not cut it for us, not with Amazon. Amazon's expectation is very high. We have to not even continue our improvement every day, but we have to organizationally refine our process, our product delivery, our services. We have to grow that every day, every week, and we evaluate that by the end of the month.
If we don't meet that operationally, we're gonna fall behind.
Yeah.
That's one of the criteria for us to be chosen as a top choice, preferred 3D model supplier, and be able to take on the challenge of Amazon sellers, Seller Central. 10 million merchants? How do you count the 10 million merchants? You know, those merchants, the product that they're bringing in is automatically not their product, maybe through the manufacturer, the brand product. We are gonna go ahead and emphasize on their brand in Amazon Marketplace.
Yeah.
Others are joining the same line because they have their marketplace. The other E-commerce, they have their marketplace. They're waiting to see what happens.
Yeah.
What happens with Amazon?
Reza, I just want to, you know, let our investors know that, you know, you manage a pretty significant team, how many people are on just the Amazon team, you know, ballpark?
With the ballpark, going down on a team of the factory and operation, overall, we are looking about 25- 30.
Okay.
In general.
Yeah, 25-30 plus, you know, That's just in North America, and then if you add.
No, globally, yeah.
Globally, it probably doubles that, you know?
Absolutely.
Probably closer to 50.
with the North America here, we are looking at about 25. again.
And, and-
It's not just about the number of the people.
Yes.
By having the AI tool internally.
Yeah
... we're able to deliver those 3D models for Amazon, that's a huge improvement for us.
What kind of cadence do you have in terms of communication with Amazon? Like, the team. You know, like, how many times do we communicate, like, a week?
My team, they have daily communication with Amazon's team on the delivery portion of it.
Daily? Daily cadence.
Daily.
Let me think about that.
We have an open channel with Amazon daily.
Sometimes I don't even talk to my wife daily. You know, it's like, daily communication is quite significant. It kind of... You know, this is my point, is I wanna explain to our investors a bit that, you know, Reza operates a global team, roughly 50 people, 25, you know, North America, 25 outside of the country. The team is communicating and interacting with Amazon every single day. We don't interact... Is there anyone else that we interact with that often, Reza?
No, of course not, because if you look at the numbers, we managed to deliver more than 20,000 3D models to Amazon.
Right.
Those 20,000+, it just doesn't represent the quantity of the models, it represents the investment that Amazon put it in us.
Right. It's not a one-way street.
It's not.
They-
They invested in us.
Yeah.
Amazon invested.
It's not just.
Yes.
Yeah. They're not just saying: "Just give us the three models, and we don't care-
No
- about you guys." No, no.
Yep. The 3D model supplier that they're currently dealing with, and many times, again, as in management at a high level, we have once a month, monthly business review, and on the management level, lower than the kind of a regional, is the weekly review. The associates on a factory and operationally, to be able to deliver all of these models on a daily basis, is a daily communication that they have. You can see the investment that Amazon did in us. Many other customers, besides Amazon, they have the same investment, but the investment of Amazon is huge because you just don't become Amazon 3D model supplier just putting a name on your. Name of. There are thousands suppliers worldwide, globally. Why did they choose us?
They handpicked their supplier. Many times, during their monthly business review, they did tell me that we are their preferred and top choice. Why? Not just because the name Nextech3D.ai looks good. We deliver in a high quality, AR 3D, in a high quality, not just for Amazon, because as we both know, they are testing it before they open the Seller Central. Can we take care of their customers who invested in them?
Right.
I can see the investment of Amazon in us, it is huge, based upon our performance. Based upon where we came from.
Yeah.
from last year up to now, models more than as a matter of fact, I have to say more than 20,000 because we mentioned more than 20,000, right?
Yeah, yeah.
More than 20,000.
You mentioned something very important, that they're testing us.
That's right.
They wanna make sure that before they open up Seller Central, before they give us the keys to the kingdom. When they open up Seller Central, they're giving us the keys to their house. They're saying: "Okay, we trust you guys. You've delivered whether 20,000 or 30,000 models, doesn't matter." The point is, they trust us. They've been testing us now. It's actually about, we're coming up on a year anniversary.
Sure.
I think it was actually right around now.
Yeah.
I'll have to go back and look at the first purchase order that we got from them. It was right around this time in 2022, a year ago, that we started working with Amazon. You know, this just kind of speaks to enterprise customers, and when you know, are selling to these big companies, they don't jump in. They dip their toe in. They test you. Because remember, Amazon, they have a huge reputation. Their reputation is worth $ trillions to them.
Right.
They're not gonna risk their reputation on Nextech. Before they risk their reputation, they test us to an extreme level. They say: "Okay, you're a preferred 3D model supplier. You've passed the test." They say: "We're gonna take it to the next level. We're opening up Seller Central, and we're gonna send you customers.
Yes.
Right? That's their process.
Their process. I can say this much right now, they're not just testing you once a quarter. They're testing you every day. They raise the bar. They're, the Amazon's, you know, I have dealt with many other customers, and good customers, they do have their own proprietary requirement. What Amazon is giving us to meet their metrics, I'm not saying it's complicated, it's a very high level, and we have to improve operationally every day to be able to meet and exceed their expectation, which we have. By them testing us because they are investing in us, and they wanna make sure the investment doesn't go down.
Right. Think about that for a minute.
Oh.
This kind of creates a moat, right? Where our other, you know, other competitors, if they wanna come in, you know, and try and work with Amazon.
Yeah
it's gonna take them a year. You know, like, Amazon's, like, they're moving too fast. This is gonna go too fast for anyone to be able to catch up. It's either you're in or I think you're out.
Yeah.
Okay. Okay, all right. Hold on. A couple of questions here because there's a lot of stuff going on here.
Yeah.
You guys are literally talking us all about this, which is good, which is great.
Yeah.
Uh, so-
We talk to each other.
Yeah.
Reza and I are having a conversation.
Yeah.
That's what we're having conversations, and learning all about this. Okay, Reza, a couple of things for you, first off. You mentioned that, Amazon's testing you on a daily basis. They're finding out where you, where you are and where you can get to. Now, Evan mentioned earlier that there's still obviously a lot of work to do on the AI, so take us to where we are, where you are right now and where you see where you need to get to, you know, by the end of this year. Is it just improving the AI, improving the ability to scale? What is it that you need to do?
You know, one thing I want to mention, going to this, you know, being, talking about the tech world, you know, using the certain terminology like ML, AI, coming out everywhere, like Metaverse and everything, it is okay to talk about it, but there's a lot of work behind it. When we say AI, we are talking about full engineering team working in the artificial intelligence to be able to do the work that the human currently does, in ChatGPT and so on. It requires work every day by our engineering team to take that to the, to the level of acceptance, which means, are we gonna ever to do a 100% 3D model, regardless of the complexity of the model? Now, we are going down to the weeds. Just have the machine do it without any human touches that. Well, that's not ChatGPT.
This is high-level 3D model, and right now, in the industry, it's not there. We have AI to improve our delivery of 3D model, to do texturing, to do mesh, to be able to expedite the time of delivery. I'll tell you what, last year, our average time of delivery to Amazon, it could have been 12-15 days, even a little bit higher. Do you know what is our average delivery day production for Amazon is right now, since the January, the start of this fiscal year?
I don't know.
Guess. 5.2.
David-
5.2.
Yeah.
That is not just because we hired more.
I just wanna be clear. Reza's not talking about a single model.
I'm not talking about single model.
Okay.
We don't do Amazon single model.
You're talking about a batch, right? A batch of model.
We're talking about a batch. We're talking about thousands. I mean, again.
Yeah.
We just mentioned that we passed I mean, Evan come up with a statement of 20,000+ at one point. We passed 24 already. But these are thousands. We are looking at it daily, weekly, and monthly.
Yeah. what Reza is speaking to is productivity enhancements, right?
Yes.
That we've enhanced our productivity by over 100% from the beginning of the year to date, that should be music to investors' ears, because ultimately, the productivity is what drives our profitability, and the AI is our secret weapon. It's the secret sauce. It's the thing that's gonna take productivity up 400% from here, that's what we keep investing in. That's what we are hell-bent on delivering for our investors, because, you know, we see this opportunity with Amazon not as something that's gonna last a quarter, not that's something that's gonna last even a year or even three years. We see it as a decade-long mega trend. The AI is gonna be the thing that wins for that 10-year run. That's why we've been investing in AI, we're invested.
If you're not making 3D models with AI, you might as well just leave the room. You might as well just close shop, get out of business. You're not gonna make it. I, you know, I could just say that definitively. Now, we used to not have the AI. That's why I can say that. I know where we came from, I know where we are today, I know where we're going, and with the team that we've built, and, you know, Reza speaking to the engineering team, we announced a couple of months ago, we beefed up our AI team. We are continuing to hire more AI experts, and that team, that core team, is working to enhance our productivity. What does that mean? We've talked about it on this show a couple of times.
When it comes to productivity, it's how many models can we produce in a 24-hour period. Period, the end.
Yeah.
Right? That's really the key. If it's just human-
Is there a number on that, Evan? Is there a number on that? Like, how many can you do in a day?
I don't actually have a number today for you, Steve.
Okay.
We did, you know, recently put out, you know, our chart that shows the growth of our 3D model production. What I can say, though, is that we keep on moving our capabilities up, our productivity, as we just discussed, Reza just brought up, it's increased by over 100% from the beginning of the year to today. That's the key, that's being driven by AI. By the end of this year, we're going to see the AI go to a whole another level, where most of the production will be an AI-driven 3D model. It's just not an easy thing to do. If it was so easy, Amazon would have done it themselves.
Yeah. Reza, a two-part question here. One is, can you talk a little bit about, is Amazon still ordering 3D models from you right now and currently? Secondly, when you talk about tests that Amazon has asked you to do in past, can you sort of highlight some of those for people who are watching what it means to be tested by Amazon?
Yeah. First of all, Amazon has. I don't wanna get so much into a technical portion of it as far as...
Sure
... with the 3D modeling. There are certain specs needs to be met for the actual 3D model to go on the Amazon site.
Okay.
Those specs must be met. There are a lot of dimensions and, you know, shallow checks and so on. That's automated. That means we do those models, remember, one by one, they have to go to that test, and if it passes or not, if it doesn't pass, then that's a failure. Now, that brings up another matrix called rework. Out of the models that they give us to go ahead and the batches that they give us to convert to the 3D model, how many of those batch has been reworked? Our current average of the batch rework is 1.4, 1.2, 1.1 on the rework. That means on out of 10 models that we get, the ratio of 1.1 may need a rework to meet their specification.
Yeah, let's be clear, Reza. This is, you know, something we could brag about.
Exactly.
Their minimum requirement is what? 2.5 or something.
Yes.
Yeah.
It was that number, and then they keep bringing it down globally to 1.5. We are sitting at 1.1.
Okay. Just to be clear, that's %, right? On a batch, out of the batch, you can't have more than 2.5%. They brought it down again, they keep.
$1.5.
1.5% rework, meaning they have to be perfect. We're at like 98.8% perfection on our production, where there's only a 1.2% rework. That, again, is a huge, huge accomplishment by the Nextech team.
That clearly how fast we're gonna deliver the product. That's another, Steve, that's another matrix. First was the technical portion of the 3D model to meet the specs.
Yeah.
Second is the rework, the third is how fast we're gonna go ahead and deliver the product to them, because they have customers. Those customers on the E-commerce side, that they work on Amazon side, including Amazon, using those product for promotional purposes, they need to have that product on site ready to go for 3D AR. We need to make sure we deliver those product on time. There is a time, there is a number of the days that we need to meet, we exceeded that by 104, 105, 110%. Again, when I say daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, it's a day in and out. If you don't take care of today, tomorrow, you're gonna be behind. It requires a total focus by the team working with Amazon.
Yeah.
It's a lot of work expect of us. The expectation is very high by Amazon. That is another reason we are their top choice, 3D model supplier.
Yeah. Reza, is the biggest advancement to come for the rest of this year, just speed? Is that what you're saying? Is that the biggest advance? 'Cause it sounds like you've the creation of the 3D models is going well. It's the ability to do it a lot quicker and a lot faster. Is that what the big?
That could be one of it, because we don't wanna sacrifice the quality because of the speed. We have to manage them all simultaneously.
Okay.
Again, Amazon expectation is. The bar is very high. That's why there are not a lot of people selected to be a 3D model supplier for Amazon. This doesn't come easy. You have to be top-notch 3D model supplier with the quality and speed to get Amazon's on board. That's why I'm saying Amazon is investing in us.
Yeah.
It's a long-term relationship.
Yeah.
The Seller Central opens, that's the gate.
Yeah. My belief is that a lot of our competitors have dropped out, and more will drop out because it's like Navy SEALs training. If you've ever seen a Navy SEAL training, you know, it's no joke. They take you into the deep water, and, you know, it's sink or swim. Amazon is putting us through a Navy SEAL type of training for 3D model production. Reza is leading our team, and they continuously test, and test, and test, and like he said, what it turns into is an investment by Amazon into Nextech. So they're now dependent on-
Yeah
... us to deliver, at this very high level, and they wanna see us succeed.
Yeah.
They also... You know, remember, for them, a lot of what drives them is their reputation, and so they wanna make sure that when they open up Seller Central, Nextech, we're ready, but their tech has to be ready as well.
Yeah.
Okay. Reza, I think we're gonna leave it there for you. Thank you so much. Great to see you. I know you've got a lot of work-
One thing I wanna-.
Yeah.
One thing I wanna add, I know you're, you know, time-stretched-
That's fine.
I just have to say that, I don't look at Amazon as a customer. We look at Amazon as a partner. That's exactly what we just talked about. One more thing I wanna say that in order for us to have the operational excellence, I am very amazed the way we are maintaining, as a team, our performance on a daily basis is a true reflection of our professional and reliable staff with the team concept. This is the best gift I could ever have as a leader, and I just want to give the kudos to my team in Nextech.
Reza, thank you so much. Great to see you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
All right.
Reza Davariar, he is the Chief Operating Officer for Nextech3D.ai. Thank you very much for that, Reza. Evan, final thoughts from you, just about, you know, anything you'd like to talk about? We obviously talked about how important Amazon is to the company, just company in general. You know, obviously, lots of questions you get all the time about share price and where you're at, and revenue-
Yeah
all that kind of stuff. Do you want to just give some final thoughts on the company?
Yeah. I would like our investors to, you know, think of this, as the dawn of, you know, a new day, where Amazon is going to open up Seller Central. That will create in my opinion, a tidal wave of demand. Enhanced product visualization, 3D models, they're here to stay. You get accurate product views with 3D models. You get virtual try-ons with sizing. You know, augmented reality, of course, gives you the ability to see it in your space. These technologies have been developed over decades. They are here to stay. It is only going to become a bigger and bigger part of our lives as we move forward. Nextech is here to deliver on these 3D models for E-commerce.
When I say E-commerce, I'm using that term, really to represent Amazon, because in my opinion, after being in the E-commerce space, having our own website that we owned and operated, Amazon was what drove our business. Now, we're a supplier to Amazon of 3D models, and Amazon is going to be driving and is driving our business forward. When you think of E-commerce, think of Amazon. If you don't have Amazon and you're making 3D models, it almost doesn't count, and I'll leave it at that.
All right. It seems that the big part will be Seller Central, and when that finally gets up and running, for sure. We'll wait to see when that happens. Evan, thank you so much. Good to see you again, and we'll talk to you in the future, okay?
Thanks, Steve.
All right. There is Evan Gappelberg, the CEO of Nextech3D.ai. I'm Steve Darling here in Vancouver, Proactive. Thank you very much for watching. We look forward to you again joining us for our next live stream event.