FedEx SMART GDC

FedEx SMART-GDC I-NCUBATE Program

About the FedEx SMART-GDC I-NCUBATE Program

The FedEx SMART – GDC I-NCUBATE Program is an intensive 8-week, cohort-based immersion designed to sharpen the strategic trajectory of high-potential Indian startups in the logistics and supply chain sectors. Bringing together the logistics and supply chain expertise of the IIT Madras-led FedEx SMART Center and the deep entrepreneurship-development capabilities of GDC IIT Madras, this program serves as a strategic navigational compass for founders of technology-driven solutions.

Rather than a traditional accelerator, this program is an enablement engine. It focuses on the critical “zero-to-one” phase: transforming how founders think about their market and their technology. Participants are guided through a rigorous process of identifying high-value customer segments, distilling core value propositions, and sizing market opportunities.

By stripping away assumptions and biases, the program empowers early-stage founders of startups at the pre-revenue or at-revenue stage, to de-risk their ventures and formulate robust business models. The ultimate goal is to provide founders with a definitive roadmap for achieving product-market fit, ensuring they are building solutions that the logistics and supply chain industry actually needs.

Calling All Visionary Logistics & Supply Chain Startups!

Are you an early-stage India-registered startup?
Are you building cutting-edge technology solutions transforming the logistics and supply chain ecosystem?
Are you innovating across digital commerce, supply chain sustainability, cold-chain, cross-border trade, logistics intelligence, AI-driven optimisation, or logistics infrastructure?
Are you at the pre-revenue or at-revenue stage of your evolution with no external equity investments?
Are the founders willing to devote 8 weeks to work with world-leading domain and entrepreneurship-development experts?

Themes

E-commerce/Digital Commerce Value Chain

Cold-Chain Innovation

Trust & Security - Fraud identification, KYC, Anti-theft device, etc.

Logistics Technology

Cross-Border Business Enablement

Allied areas in logistics and supply chain

Verticals

Supply chain sustainability

Logistics Worker Wellness

Logistics Infrastructure

AI & ML in logistics value chain

This is your opportunity to work with leading experts and integrate into the evolving logistics and supply chain industry and value chain.

Innovation across these logistics and supply chain sectors directly addresses critical industry challenges such as inefficiency, lack of visibility, rising costs, and regulatory complexity. Digital commerce and Logistics technology (Logi-tech) innovations improve demand forecasting, fulfilment, tracking, and route optimisation, while cold-chain technologies ensure product integrity through real-time monitoring. Trust and security innovations reduce fraud and compliance risks, and cross-border enablement platforms streamline documentation and customs processes, accelerating global trade.

At the same time, advancements in sustainability, worker wellness, infrastructure, and AI strengthen operational resilience. Carbon tracking and green logistics support ESG goals, workforce safety technologies enhance productivity and reduce risk, and AI-driven analytics enable smarter forecasting, inventory optimisation, and decision-making. Together, these innovations transform the supply chain and logistics functions into a more efficient, intelligent, and sustainable ecosystem.

Who should Apply?

We invite early-stage startups (evolved to TRL 3 – 5 levels) in high-impact logistics and supply chain domains from Indian universities, incubators, and industry working on solving logistics and supply chain – related challenges in the following areas:

If your solution aligns with the requirement, we want to hear from you!

Program Overview

The FedEx SMART – GDC I-NCUBATE Program supports startups that have evolved to Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) 3–5 in the following ways:

Developing Entrepreneurial Thinking and Mindset

Business mentorship

Enabling access to FedEx SMART Center and IIT Madras ecosystem

Opportunities for targeted engagements for select startups

At the end of the program, high-performing startups will have possibilities of engaging with the FedEx SMART Center, access to relevant IITM innovation resources or connect with FedEx for strategic discussions based on mutual interest.

Duration

Structure

8-week boot camp for about 10 Startups.
The participation of at least two founders is essential.
The boot camp will be a deep dive into entrepreneurship and business fundamentals training involving classroom sessions, self-study, and a Customer Discovery exercise. The participant teams must conduct meetings with about 100 customers and stakeholders.
The program will be cohort-based and will involve in-person and online sessions.
The initial 3-4 days (about 25 hours) will be in-person workshops (to be held at IIT Madras).
The remaining 7 weeks will have weekly online webinars (each about 3-4 hours long) and Office hours (one on one online sessions for startups with Instructors).
Each startup will be assigned a dedicated business mentor. Online meetings between mentor and startup will be mutually setup as per convenience.
About 100 stakeholder interactions that each team will directly set up for themselves.
An online, 1-day long Closing workshop.
In Person Demo Day to FedEx SMART Center team.

Funding

Startups that perform well in the program may be considered for a grant of up to INR 10 lakh per team from the FedEx SMART Center, IIT Madras. The award will be announced after the program and is subject to the startup eligibility criteria of the FedEx SMART Center, IIT Madras.

Eligibility

Indian startups who are at pre-revenue or at-revenue stage. The Startup should not have external equity investors.

Demo Day Event

All participating startups will be invited to the FedEx SMART Center at IIT Madras for a Demo Day Event in July 2026. A selected set of startups will make presentations at the event. The Program ends with the Demo Day event.

How to Apply

Click the registration link below and complete your registration for Open House (Online) Session.
Attend the open house session, upon which you will receive access to the ‘Application Form’, where you can provide us with the necessary information about your innovation and startup. Fill out the Application Form with all the required details. Our team will review your submission.
If you meet our qualifying criteria, our selection committee will invite you for an interview.
Upon selection, you will be intimated the details of the program.

Expectations from Startup Applicants

Each participant of the selected startup should expect to commit to devote about 50% of your time (on a continuous basis) during the 8- week program including in-person sessions at IIT Madras and virtual sessions as per schedule. This is critical to ensuring the desired learning outcomes are obtained.

Each selected startup (including team members) who will be attending the program will be required to sign GDC’s Code of Conduct. This will be shared with selected startups at the beginning of the program.

Need Further Clarification?

For queries, contact the Program Manager, GDC at – 9790013112 
If you have any specific queries/clarifications, please email Program Manager, GDC at surya@gdciitm.org

About FedEx SMART Center:

About FedEx SMART Center: The IIT Madras-led FedEx SMART Center is a place where innovation drives real-world impact by reimagining supply chains to be greener, smarter, and more resilient for a connected world. A joint initiative between FedEx and IIT Madras, the SMART Center is envisioned as a hub of excellence — advancing logistics through high-impact research, future-ready solutions, talent development, knowledge-sharing, industry- focussed capacity building, innovation, startups and entrepreneurship. Focus areas of the SMART (Supply Chain Modelling, Algorithms, Research and Technology) Center span across Air Cargo Optimization, Employee Wellness, Demand forecasting, Drone logistics, Last mile delivery solutions, Social and Environmental Sustainability, Multi- Modal Delivery systems, Logistics Intelligence, Warehouse operations and Human Centric Wellness, safety and performance.

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About IIT Madras:

The Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT Madras) is an institute of eminence, as recognized by the Government of India. It has been India’s #1-ranked academic institution for several years under the NIRF and ARIIA programs.

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About GDC:

The Gopalakrishnan-Deshpande Centre for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (GDC) is a philanthropic initiative at IIT Madras. GDC works with faculty, researchers, students, and budding entrepreneurs in STEM colleges and incubators across India to enable them to commercialise their research-based ideas and create positive socio-economic outcomes at scale. GDC aims to catalyse a ‘lab to market’ transformation of science-based research into deep-tech startups by converting entrepreneurs and founders from academic researchers.

GDC works with universities, laboratories, incubators, and startups and helps strengthen the innovation ecosystem by developing entrepreneurial mindsets and business thinking capabilities in university faculty, researchers, and students.

Over the past eight years, GDC has worked with over 200 universities / incubators / institutions and transformed over 608 startup teams in their entrepreneurial capabilities. Of these, nearly 200 teams have launched their startups.