MRA Grant for Malaysia Expansion: What Replaced It in 2026 and How to Fund Your Move
By Lucas Seah, Founder of Excellence Singapore Group | Last Updated: October 2026
Planning to expand into Malaysia with the Market Readiness Assistance (MRA) grant? MRA stopped accepting new applications after 29 September 2026. From 30 September, overseas expansion support, including for Malaysia, comes under Enterprise Singapore’s EDGE grant: SMEs can get up to 70% of qualifying costs for internationalisation activities, within a cap of S$100,000 per company each year across all EDGE activities. If you already have an MRA approval, your project continues under MRA’s rules and you claim by the deadline in your Letter of Offer.
Short on time? Jump to what EDGE funds in Malaysia or claiming an existing MRA grant.
Key Takeaways
- MRA stopped accepting new applications after 29 September 2026. New overseas projects, including in Malaysia, apply under EDGE.
- SMEs get up to 70% for internationalisation activities and non-SMEs up to 50%, within S$100,000 per company per grant year (1 April to 31 March), shared with all other EDGE activities.
- There is no new-to-market test. EDGE also supports growing a market you already sell to, with a separate application for each activity in each market.
- Existing MRA projects carry on: have the claim audited, then submit it on the Business Grants Portal by the deadline in your Letter of Offer.
- Apply before you pay anything. EDGE does not support work you started or paid for before you submitted the application. The one stated exception is overseas trade fairs, where payments or deposits to secure booth space before you apply are permitted.
What happened to the MRA grant?
Budget 2026 first raised MRA support for SMEs from 50% to 70% of eligible costs, from 1 April 2026. Then Enterprise Singapore merged MRA, the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) and the Enterprise Development Grant (EDG) into one grant, EDGE. The three old grants ceased on 29 September 2026, and from 30 September new applications go to EDGE.
For a Malaysia expansion, three MRA rules have gone with it:
- The 31 March 2026 deadline no longer matters. That was the date MRA’s S$100,000 grant cap had been extended to. Budget 2026 raised SME support to 70% from 1 April 2026, announced to run until 31 March 2029, and MTI said these MRA enhancements would come under EDGE. EDGE’s own pages do not give an end date.
- The per-market cap and sub-caps for set-up, business development and promotion are replaced by one annual cap of S$100,000 per company across all EDGE activities.
- The new-to-market test, under which your sales in Malaysia could not have exceeded S$100,000 in any of the previous three years, was removed under EDGE, so you can also grow a market you already sell to.
Already have an MRA grant? How to claim
Nothing changes for MRA applications already in the system. According to Enterprise Singapore’s EDGE FAQ, MRA applications submitted before 30 September 2026 are still assessed under MRA’s rules, and ongoing projects are supported until the project is completed and the claim is paid.
- Get the claim audited, then submit it on the Business Grants Portal. All MRA claims are subject to audit. Once the project is complete, engage an auditor from Enterprise Singapore’s pre-qualified panel (listed in your Letter of Offer). Then submit the audit report, the auditor-endorsed Statement of Claim and your project deliverables by the claim submission deadline in your Letter of Offer. MRA’s FAQ says claims must reach Enterprise Singapore within 3 months of the end of the project qualifying period.
- Keep the evidence for every cost you claim, such as invoices and proof of payment, and the deliverables your Letter of Offer lists.
- SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit: the credit is applied automatically for eligible employers and expires on 30 November 2026. To receive it on top of an MRA grant, submit the final MRA claim by 30 November 2026. EDGE projects cannot be funded through the credit.
- A new project can still go to EDGE. Having an MRA grant does not stop you applying for EDGE, but you cannot get EDGE support for the same project.
What EDGE funds for a Malaysia expansion
EDGE’s internationalisation activities cover most of what MRA used to fund, and more. Each activity needs its own application. Virtual trade fairs, outsourced in-market business development and FTA and trade compliance consultancy, which MRA also funded, do not have their own EDGE internationalisation activity.
| EDGE activity | What it covers in Malaysia | Outcome in |
|---|---|---|
| Market entry setup | Professional fees for incorporating your Malaysian entity, drafting agreements, import and export licences, registering trade marks or patents, tax advice and trade credit insurance | 6 weeks |
| Overseas business development staff | Basic salary and office rental for a full-time business development employee based in Malaysia, for up to 12 months | 6 weeks |
| Finding overseas partners | Research and in-person, one-to-one meetings to find distributors, agents, franchisees, suppliers, joint venture partners or logistics providers | 6 weeks |
| Overseas marketing and PR | In-store promotions, roadshows, pop-up stores and media publicity, with content adapted to the Malaysian market | 6 weeks |
| Overseas trade fairs | Booth space and booth design or construction (up to 36 square metres), speaking slots and collaterals at B2B trade fairs | 6 weeks |
| International branding | Brand research, brand strategy and brand identity for overseas markets | 10 weeks |
| International financial and tax planning | Advice on foreign tax rules, tax strategy and capital structures for your overseas expansion | 10 weeks |
Source: Enterprise Singapore, EDGE internationalisation activity pages, October 2026. All seven give SMEs up to 70% and non-SMEs up to 50%, except business development staff (see below).
Rules that matter for Malaysia:
- Your Singapore company must hold the majority. If EDGE funds incorporating your Malaysian entity, your Singapore company must end up holding more than 50% of it, or the maximum foreign ownership Malaysian rules allow. Any trade mark or patent registered with EDGE support must belong to the Singapore company.
- Business development staff: support is up to 70% for SMEs if the person you deploy is a Singaporean or permanent resident, and up to 50% if they are a foreigner (50% and 30% for non-SMEs). The employee must be full-time, can be employed by your Singapore company or its Malaysian subsidiary, must not be a shareholder or director of the company or its related companies, and must stay in Malaysia for the whole project, which runs for 6 to 12 months.
- Trade fairs must be B2B fairs, not open to the public, with international exhibitors and visitors, and you must apply no earlier than 6 months before the fair starts. EDGE does not fund fairs supported under the Local Enterprise and Association Development (LEAD) programme, or booths shared with other companies.
- Branding and tax planning projects need a consultant with SS 680 certification.
- What EDGE does not pay for depends on the activity. GST is never covered and no activity funds work aimed at the Singapore market. Most overseas activities also exclude travel, accommodation and staff costs (beyond the business development employee’s basic salary) and investor sourcing or capital raising.
How much EDGE can cover
Support levels. SMEs get up to 70% of qualifying costs for internationalisation activities, and larger local companies up to 50%. An SME, for EDGE, has group annual sales of up to S$100 million or up to 200 workers.
The S$100,000 annual cap. Total EDGE support is capped at S$100,000 per company in each grant year, which runs from 1 April to 31 March. The cap covers every EDGE activity, so a Malaysian expansion and a new accounting system in the same year draw on the same S$100,000. Grants you received under MRA, EDG or PSG do not count against it. To use the current year’s cap, apply before 31 March.
A separate application for each activity in each market. You can apply for several markets at once, and for a regional project you pick the main market it focuses on. The exception is international trade mark or patent filings under the Madrid, PCT or Hague systems, which can cover several markets in one application.
An example. An SME opening a sales office in Kuala Lumpur applies for market entry setup, with S$20,000 of professional fees for incorporation and legal work, and for a Singaporean business development manager, with S$60,000 of basic salary and office rent over 12 months. At 70%, the two approvals could total S$56,000 (S$14,000 plus S$42,000), leaving S$44,000 of that year’s cap for other EDGE projects. The actual grant depends on the costs Enterprise Singapore approves.
Who can apply
Your business must:
- Be registered and operating in Singapore. EDGE supports Singapore-registered business entities, not non-profits, societies or religious bodies.
- Be at least 30% owned by Singapore citizens or permanent residents, directly or indirectly, based on the ultimate individual owners.
- Not have started work or paid the vendor, including any deposit, before you submit the application. Overseas trade fairs are the exception: payments or deposits to secure booth space before you apply are permitted.
- Not already have another government grant approved for the same costs.
You do not need to be new to Malaysia, and your current Malaysian sales do not affect eligibility.
How to apply, and what not to do first
Apply on the Business Grants Portal, signing in through Corppass, before you commit to anything. The BizSG portal helps you check eligibility, but it is not where you apply.
- Pick the activity on Enterprise Singapore’s EDGE page and check its documents. Most overseas activities ask for the vendor’s proposal and quotation, and one-year projections of overseas sales and of new jobs paying above S$5,000 a month.
- Submit the application yourself. Only the company’s own staff with the BGP Preparer or Acceptor role on Corppass can submit. Vendors, consultants and corporate secretaries are not allowed to apply for you.
- Wait for the outcome: about 6 weeks for most overseas activities and 10 weeks for branding and tax planning.
- Complete the project within 12 months of approval, or 18 months for market entry setup.
- Pay in full, then submit one final claim. EDGE reimburses you after the project. First engage an auditor from Enterprise Singapore’s Panel of Auditors and sign the audit engagement letter, because claims without it are not processed, and you must submit the claim within 14 working days of signing it. Claims for overseas activities open from 1 December 2026, and payouts by PayNow Corporate arrive within 14 working days of claim approval. The claim document list asks for unedited bank statements, tax invoices and receipts.
Do not pay first. For most activities, any work started, or any payment or deposit made to the vendor, before you submit makes the application retrospective, and it will not be supported. The exception is overseas trade fairs: payments or deposits to secure booth space before you apply are permitted, but you must apply no earlier than 6 months before the fair starts. Costs from the date you apply are covered if the project is approved.
If your Malaysian entity pays a cost, it can recharge it to the Singapore company through an internal cost transfer. The Singapore company is the applicant and must bear the cost.
Pairing EDGE with the DTDi tax deduction
Enterprise Singapore’s EDGE FAQ confirms you can also claim the Double Tax Deduction for Internationalisation (DTDi) on the same expenses, as long as they are also DTDi-qualifying. The deduction is computed on the cost net of the EDGE grant, so on S$20,000 of overseas trade fair booth costs with a S$14,000 EDGE grant, the DTDi claim is based on the S$6,000 balance your company bore. Not every EDGE cost qualifies: DTDi does not cover the initial costs of setting up an overseas office, such as legal and regulatory fees, and some activities, such as an overseas trade office, need Enterprise Singapore’s approval before the project starts. Our guide to Budget 2026 support for going overseas explains how DTDi works and what changes from YA 2027.
Get your Singapore company ready first
Most of an EDGE application is about the project. The rest is about your Singapore company, and gaps there can delay an approval or a claim. Before you apply, check:
- Your shareholding is on record. The 30% local ownership test looks through to the ultimate individual owners, so make sure the shareholdings ACRA holds for your company are up to date.
- You have decided how the Malaysian entity will be held. If EDGE is funding the incorporation, your Singapore company must end up holding more than 50% of it, or the maximum foreign ownership Malaysian rules allow.
- Your accounts support your projections. Base the overseas sales and job projections on your actual financial statements.
- Your payroll records will support a claim. Claims for the business development employee need the employment contract, payslips, CPF statements (for Singaporean and PR staff) and bank statements.
- You will still qualify when you claim. If your company stops meeting the criteria after approval, for example because local ownership falls below 30%, the claim will not be paid.
How we help
Excellence Singapore Group does not write grant proposals, and Enterprise Singapore does not allow a vendor, consultant or corporate secretary to submit one for you. We help you get the company-side basics in order before you apply:
- Up-to-date financial statements, prepared by our accounting team, so your accounts and projections support the application.
- Clean ACRA records, with annual returns filed and your shareholding and officers correct on Bizfile, through our corporate secretarial team.
- Payroll and CPF records in order for any staff you deploy overseas, through our payroll service.
For the full picture of the new grant, including software and equipment support, see our EDGE grant guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the MRA grant still available?
No. MRA stopped accepting new applications after 29 September 2026, and from 30 September overseas expansion support comes under the EDGE grant. SMEs get up to 70% of qualifying costs for internationalisation activities such as market entry setup, trade fairs and overseas business development staff, within S$100,000 per company per year.
How do I claim my existing MRA grant?
Complete the project and have the claim audited by an auditor from Enterprise Singapore’s pre-qualified panel, then submit the audit report, the auditor-endorsed Statement of Claim and your deliverables on the Business Grants Portal by the deadline in your Letter of Offer. MRA applications submitted before 30 September 2026 are still assessed under MRA’s rules, and ongoing projects are supported until completion and claim payment.
How much can EDGE fund for a Malaysia expansion?
SMEs get up to 70% of qualifying costs for internationalisation activities and larger companies up to 50%. Total EDGE support is capped at S$100,000 per company per grant year, from 1 April to 31 March, shared across every EDGE activity. Each activity needs its own application for each market.
Do I need to be new to the Malaysian market?
No. MRA’s rule that your sales in the target market could not exceed S$100,000 in any of the previous three years was removed under EDGE. You can get support to grow a market you already sell to, with a separate application for each overseas market.
Can EDGE pay to set up a company in Malaysia?
Yes. EDGE’s market entry setup activity covers professional fees for incorporating an overseas entity, drafting agreements, licences, intellectual property, tax advice and trade credit insurance. Your Singapore company must own more than 50% of the new entity, or the maximum local law allows.
Can I claim DTDi as well as the EDGE grant?
Yes, if the expense also qualifies for DTDi. Enterprise Singapore’s EDGE FAQ says companies can also claim the Double Tax Deduction for Internationalisation on the same expenses, computed on the qualifying cost net of the EDGE grant. DTDi has its own list of qualifying activities: trade fair booth costs qualify, but initial costs of setting up an overseas office, such as legal fees, do not.
Planning your move to Malaysia?
EDGE does not fund work you have already started, so get your accounts and ACRA records in order before you apply. Talk to us for an accounting and compliance check ahead of your EDGE application.
