How to Apply for the EDGE Grant in Singapore (Formerly EDG)

The EDGE Grant replaced the Enterprise Development Grant (EDG) on 30 September 2026, and it can help fund capability projects for Singapore companies, including custom software builds that fit one of its activities. Enterprise Singapore sets support at up to 50% of qualifying costs for SMEs on most activities. You apply through the Business Grants Portal (BGP) before any work starts. This guide covers eligibility, what the application asks for, why applications fail, how claims work, and what changed from the EDG.

EDG, PSG and MRA have been replaced by the EDGE Grant. They closed to new applications on 29 September 2026, and the EDGE Grant took over from 30 September 2026. Applications submitted before then, and projects already under way, continue under their original scheme. See what changed under EDGE and Enterprise Singapore's EDGE page.

Where EDGE sits among government grants

Until 29 September 2026, Singapore businesses chose between three Enterprise Singapore grants:

• Productivity Solutions Grant. The route for buying a pre-approved solution from a vendor list.
• Enterprise Development Grant. Projects that built something specific to the business, including custom software.
• Market Readiness Assistance. Overseas expansion.

EDGE replaces all three with one grant organised around over 150 activities. Instead of picking a scheme, you pick the activity that matches your project, and that activity sets the support level, cap, vendor rules and documents. What has not changed is the underlying question an assessor asks: does the project build a capability your business does not have today?

What does EDGE actually fund?

EDGE's activities sit in business areas including Automation & Digitalisation, Innovation, Internationalisation and Sustainability. For software, three routes matter:

1. Single-function digital solutions are pre-approved packages from listed vendors, browsable on IMDA's SMEs Go Digital platform. This is what PSG used to cover.
2. Integrated enterprise systems must cover at least three business functions, such as financial management, supply chain and inventory, project management, field service or HR. You can choose a pre-approved package, or use your own vendor when the functions you need aren't available, which is the clearest route for a custom ERP or operations system.
3. Other activities, for example in Innovation, may fit a bespoke build such as workflow automation or a new digital product. Enterprise Singapore does not name one activity for bespoke software, so confirm the fit with its advisors or an SME Centre. For larger customised projects outside the standard activities, the Government has said businesses can apply to Enterprise Singapore directly.

What EDGE does not do is subsidise running your business. A project has to change a capability, not maintain one. Renewing a subscription you already pay for is not a project. Replacing a manual process with a system that removes the manual step is.

Who is eligible?

Enterprise Singapore sets two company conditions for EDGE:

1. Your company must be a business entity registered in Singapore. Non-profits, societies, religious bodies, voluntary welfare organisations and government entities are not eligible.
2. Your company must have at least 30% ownership held by Singaporeans and/or Singapore Permanent Residents.

Each activity can add its own conditions. Company size decides the support level rather than eligibility: you count as an SME with group annual sales turnover of no more than S$100 million or group employment of no more than 200.

The condition applicants underestimate is not written as one: cash flow. EDGE is paid by reimbursement after the project is complete and fully paid, so you fund the work first and claim afterwards. A company that cannot carry the full project cost for its duration should not plan around the grant.

The mistake that disqualifies most applications

Enterprise Singapore treats an application as retrospective if you have started work, or made any payment or deposit to a supplier, vendor or third party, before submitting it. Retrospective applications are not supported.

That rule catches people every year. If you have paid a deposit or told your vendor to begin, the project is no longer fundable. Enthusiasm is the enemy here. The natural sequence for a business is to find a vendor, agree a scope, get excited and start, then think about grants. That order disqualifies you.

The correct sequence is the reverse:

1. Scope the project and get a written quotation from your vendor.
2. Submit the EDGE application through the Business Grants Portal, from the activity page.
3. Wait for the outcome.
4. Only then instruct the vendor to start the work.

EDGE does allow payment after you submit and before approval, and that spend may be supported if the application is approved. But submission does not guarantee approval, and any commitment you make before then is at your own risk. Any supplier who pushes you to begin before you have even submitted is either unfamiliar with the scheme or careless with your money.

How much support can you get?

Enterprise Singapore sets the ceiling by company type and activity:

• SMEs can receive up to 50% of qualifying costs on most activities, including automation and digitalisation.
• Non-SMEs can receive up to 30% on most activities.
• Internationalisation and sustainability activities carry up to 70% for SMEs and 50% for non-SMEs.

Two caps sit on top. Each company can receive up to S$100,000 a year across all activities, with the year running 1 April to 31 March. Within that, up to S$30,000 can go on single-function digital solutions, integrated enterprise systems and pre-scoped equipment. For a software project, that sub-cap is usually the number that matters.

Those numbers are ceilings rather than entitlements, and the level applied to your project is the agency's decision. Treat any vendor quote that presents the grant as a discount with suspicion. Until your application is approved, the price of the project is the full price, and you should be able to afford it on that basis alone.

It also helps to separate the two numbers in your own planning. Decide whether the project is worth doing at full cost, then treat any grant as a reduction in the payback period rather than as the thing that makes the project viable.

What documents does the application need?

Under EDGE the documents vary by activity. Each activity page on Enterprise Singapore's site has an "Application Documents and Information to Prepare" section; read it before you ask your vendor for anything. Expect company information, financial statements and the vendor's quotation or proposal.

For a software project, the quotation is where applications are won or lost. A one-line price for "web application development" gives an assessor nothing to evaluate. A proposal that sets out the current process, the specific problem, the scope of the build, the deliverables and the expected outcome gives them something to approve.

Ask your vendor for a proposal written for an assessor rather than for you. The two documents look different. Yours can assume context. Theirs cannot.

Two rules catch people out. The vendor must not be related to your company, its directors or its shareholders. And where an activity includes management consultancy, the consultant needs SS 680 certification and is named upfront in the application. Check both before you build a proposal around a supplier, not after.

How to write a project proposal that survives review

Assessors are checking whether this is a genuine capability change with a plausible outcome, delivered by someone competent. Four things make that case:

• Describe the current state in concrete operational terms. How many hours, how many people, where the errors happen. Vague statements about efficiency do not survive scrutiny.
• Be specific about the mechanism rather than the benefit. "Removes duplicate data entry between the order system and accounts" is assessable. "Improves productivity" is not.
• State the outcome in numbers you would be willing to be held to, because the deliverables in your Letter of Offer are what you will have to prove at claim.
• Explain why this vendor, using their relevant delivery history rather than their marketing.

Finally, keep the scope tight. A proposal that promises to transform the entire business reads as unfocused. One that fixes a named process convincingly reads as fundable.

How long does the process take?

Under EDGE both the processing time and the project period depend on the activity, and each activity page states them. One published example is useful for software: integrated enterprise systems take about one week to process with a pre-approved vendor, and about ten weeks with your own vendor.

The project qualifying period, the window in which costs count, starts on the date you submit, and its end date is set from the date of approval. A project you want running next quarter therefore needs its application in this one, after you have scoped the work and got a written quotation, and the scope has to be deliverable inside the activity's period.

Build the wait into your commercial planning rather than your project plan. Nothing stops you preparing scope documents, agreeing a quotation and lining up internal approvals while the application sits with the agency.

What changed from the EDG?

The EDG, PSG and MRA closed to new applications after 29 September 2026, and EDGE took over from 30 September. The practical implications:

• If you applied for the EDG before 30 September, your application is still assessed under the EDG's rules, and an ongoing project is supported to completion and claim.
• If you are applying now, it is EDGE, and the activity decides the rules. The EDG had no fixed dollar cap; EDGE has a S$100,000 annual cap and a S$30,000 sub-cap for digital solutions and integrated systems.
• If you have had EDG support before, you can apply for EDGE for a new project, but not for one that was already funded.
• If you are reading other guides, treat anything written before 30 September 2026 as describing the old schemes.

What happens after your application is approved?

Approval arrives as a Letter of Offer with the approved project and grant terms, and it is a document to read closely rather than file. Two things in it govern everything afterwards:

• The project qualifying period, which is the window in which costs can be incurred.
• The project deliverables, which are what you must complete and prove when you claim.

Those two items set your boundaries, and EDGE leaves little room to move them. A change request can only alter the project end date or the claim due date. The vendor cannot be changed after approval: you would have to terminate the application and submit a new one before paying a different vendor. The same applies to a mistake such as a wrong quotation discovered after approval. (EDGE FAQ)

How do you claim the money?

EDGE reimburses. You fund the project, complete the deliverables, pay for everything in full, then claim on the Business Grants Portal. Your own staff must submit it; a vendor cannot claim on your behalf.

• Claims open from 1 November 2026 for single-function digital solutions, integrated enterprise systems and pre-scoped equipment, and from 1 December 2026 for other activities.
• EDGE accepts a single, final claim. Costs a vendor bills after you claim cannot be added later, so get every invoice in first.
• Watch the claim due date. You can extend it once, before it expires. Miss it and you cannot submit a claim at all.

The documents needed at claim vary by activity and are listed in the "How to apply" section of each activity page. Plan to show proof of every deliverable in your Letter of Offer, and the invoices and payment records behind each cost.

What if your application is rejected?

There is no formal appeal process described. Enterprise Singapore's guidance is that you "may wish to consider why the previous application was rejected before submitting a new application", so resubmission is possible where the underlying issue is addressed, and the SME Centres can advise.

That makes the reason for rejection the thing worth understanding:

• If the project had already commenced, no rewrite fixes it, because commencement is a disqualifying condition rather than a weakness in the submission.
• If the proposal failed to show a genuine capability change, or the activity was wrong, that is a scoping problem and a stronger submission may succeed.

On whether grant funds are taxable, that is a question for your accountant or IRAS rather than for a vendor, and we would not give you an answer on it.

When you should not apply

Sometimes the honest answer is that the grant is not worth the effort.

• The project is small. The administrative work of applying and claiming can exceed the value recovered.
• Your cash flow cannot carry the full cost until reimbursement. Approval does not help a business that cannot fund the work first.
• The work is genuinely maintenance rather than a capability change. An application is unlikely to succeed and will cost you weeks.
• You would not do the project without the grant. That is usually a sign the project does not have a business case, and a grant is a poor reason to build software.

The applications that succeed tend to be for projects the company had already decided were worth doing.

Frequently asked questions

Where we fit

We build the software, not the application. We provide the proposal and scope documentation that goes into your submission, written so an assessor can evaluate it, and we sequence the work so nothing starts before you have applied.

If you want to sanity check your project first, our EDGE eligibility check and proposal drafter are free to use, and neither requires talking to us. There is more detail on where custom software fits on our EDGE Grant page.

Most of what we build for grant-funded projects falls into two shapes: workflow automation that removes manual steps, and custom systems that replace something the business has outgrown.

Sources: Enterprise Singapore EDGE Grant and its FAQ, checked 9 October 2026. AppTech System is a software vendor, not a government agency or grant consultant. Support levels, caps, eligibility criteria and processing times are set by Enterprise Singapore and are subject to change, and nothing here is a guarantee of funding. Verify current terms at enterprisesg.gov.sg and apply through the Business Grants Portal before starting any project.

About AppTech System: AppTech System is a Singapore custom-software team and the people behind the Automiq and BooknGo platforms, building web, mobile, AI and enterprise software for businesses in regulated industries. Talk to us.