EDGE Grant Singapore: AI Funding for SMEs After PSG

Cortex Lab AI · 30 September 2026 · Updated 5 October 2026

Facts checked on 30 September 2026 and again on 5 October 2026 against pages from Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG), the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) and Digital Industry Singapore (DISG). This is general information, not legal or tax advice. Grant schemes change, so check the linked sources before relying on any figure here.

As of 30 September 2026, the main AI grant for SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) in Singapore is the EDGE Grant. EnterpriseSG closed the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG), the Enterprise Development Grant (EDG) and Market Readiness Assistance (MRA) on 29 September 2026, and EDGE opened the next day. It pays up to 70% of qualifying costs for SMEs on some activities, capped at S$100,000 per company per year. The two activities an AI chatbot project can use both pay up to 50% for SMEs. A few details still haven't been published, and we say so where that's the case.

We'll use one example throughout, a made-up 12-person tuition centre that isn't a client. It wants an AI chatbot on WhatsApp to answer parents' questions about class times, fees and trial lessons, and to pass everything else to a staff member.

We build AI chatbots and workflow automation for Singapore SMEs, so we have a stake in how you spend this money. We are not an EDGE pre-approved vendor, and we can't apply for a grant on your behalf. EnterpriseSG doesn't allow any third party to. There's a short section on where we fit near the end.

What happened to PSG and EDG?

PSG, EDG and MRA stopped accepting applications on 29 September 2026, and EnterpriseSG now sends businesses to EDGE from 30 September. Applications submitted before 30 September will "continue to be assessed based on the requirements of the relevant scheme" (EDGE FAQ). Ongoing projects can still claim through the Business Grants Portal, the government's grant application website, once complete (EDG page). Having received PSG or EDG money before doesn't stop you applying for EDGE.

If a vendor offers to put a new chatbot project through PSG in October 2026, their information is out of date.

Which AI grants can a Singapore SME use now?

For a small business without a tech team, EDGE is the grant to look at. The Enterprise Innovation Scheme (EIS) tax deduction is the incentive to pair with it. The Enterprise Compute Initiative is built for firms that already employ engineers.

Scheme	Who it fits	Support and cap	Key condition	Status on 30 Sep 2026
EDGE Grant	Singapore-registered businesses, SMEs and non-SMEs	Up to 70% for SMEs on some activities. For an AI chatbot, up to 50% for SMEs: S$7,500 at most through the pre-approved chatbot category, or through Large-scale Digital Transformation, which publishes no dollar cap. S$100,000 per company per year, of which up to S$30,000 for automation and digitalisation	At least 30% owned by Singaporeans or permanent residents (PRs). Pre-approved vendor for the chatbot category. No work or payment before you apply. You pay first and claim the money back after the project is complete	Open from 30 September 2026
PSG, EDG, MRA	New applications: nobody	No longer available for new projects	Earlier submissions still processed	Closed 29 September 2026
EIS, AI adoption	Any business with taxable trade income	400% tax deduction on the first S$50,000 of qualifying AI spend per Year of Assessment (YA, the tax year)	Grant-funded spend excluded. No cash payout. Hardware excluded	YA 2027 and YA 2028
Enterprise Compute Initiative	Firms with 10+ Singapore staff and a tech team of 2+	70% of consulting costs, up to S$105,000, plus free credit for cloud services	Must have built a custom AI solution before	Runs one year from each cloud provider's launch. Check DISG
Champions of AI	Firms aiming to transform the whole business with AI	Not published on the pages we checked	Aimed at firms with that ambition	Announced in Budget 2026

What is the EDGE Grant, and who qualifies?

EDGE is one grant covering eight business areas and "over 150 activities", including Automation & Digitalisation, Innovation and Internationalisation (EnterpriseSG). To apply, a business must be registered in Singapore with at least 30% Singaporean or Singapore PR ownership, and some activities add further requirements (EDGE FAQ).

Support: up to 70% for SMEs and up to 50% for non-SMEs, varying by activity. The two activities that fit an AI chatbot pay up to 50% for SMEs and up to 30% for non-SMEs.
Cap: S$100,000 per company per year across all activities, resetting on 1 April.
Digital sub-limit: up to S$30,000 of that cap for "single-function digital solutions, integrated enterprise systems and selected automation activities".
Payment: you pay first and claim the grant back after the activity is complete and fully paid.
Processing time: varies by activity. The pre-approved chatbot category gives an outcome in 1 week.

The EDGE FAQ defines an SME as a company with "a group annual sales turnover of not more than S$100 million, or a group employment size of no more than 200 workers", the same test PSG used.

Can EDGE pay for an AI chatbot or automation project?

Yes, through one of two activities under Automation & Digitalisation. Which one depends on whether you buy a listed chatbot package or have a bot built into a wider project. The government's BizSG recommender can confirm where your project sits. For chatbots in detail, including what to ask a vendor, see our guide to EDGE funding for AI chatbots.

GenAI Customer Engagement Chatbot. A pre-approved category for chatbots that answer customer enquiries on digital platforms.

Support: up to 50% for SMEs, to a maximum of S$7,500, and up to 30% (S$3,500) for non-SMEs. The cost of the activity is capped at S$15,000.
What's covered: software costs, capped at 12 months. GST and maintenance aren't supported.
Vendor: the vendor and package must come from the pre-approved list on SMEs Go Digital, a programme run by IMDA, the government agency for Singapore's digital industry. You build the package on SMEs Go Digital to match the vendor's quotation and confirm it through Corppass, the government login for businesses. Then you apply on the Business Grants Portal.
Limits: it counts toward the S$30,000 Automation & Digitalisation cap within the S$100,000 annual cap. You must "not have previously applied for grant support for this solution", and the project must be completed within 18 months of approval.
Timing and claim: the application outcome takes 1 week. To claim, you submit a photo of the deployed software showing its unique identifier.

Large-scale Digital Transformation. For a bot that is one part of a bigger change to how the business runs.

Support: up to 50% for SMEs and up to 30% for non-SMEs. The page gives no dollar cap, and we couldn't confirm whether it counts against the S$30,000 sub-limit or only the S$100,000 annual cap.
Vendor: your choice. There's no pre-approved list.
Scope: the project must "strengthen core business operations using modern technologies such as cloud-based enterprise platforms, data analytics and visualisation, AI/ML, RPA, or workflow automation, or integration of legacy systems with new digital architecture" and "involve integration and/or standardisation efforts across systems such as business, sales, and procurement", with measurable impact on growth and efficiency.
Not supported: "Automation of isolated tasks without broader business transformation", basic IT upgrades, GST and maintenance.
Paperwork: a project proposal, vendor proposals and quotations, audited or management-certified financial statements, 3-year projections of revenue growth, cost savings or overseas sales, and a 1-year projection of new jobs paying a gross monthly salary above S$5,000. Deliverables include a project report and a final consultancy report.

A standalone FAQ chatbot from a vendor that isn't on the SMEs Go Digital list is unlikely to be funded by either route. It isn't a listed package, and on its own it is the isolated task automation that Large-scale Digital Transformation excludes. A bot that sits inside a cross-system workflow project may fit the second route, but whether it qualifies is EnterpriseSG's decision on the application.

We still couldn't confirm which cost categories Large-scale Digital Transformation supports. The page lists what it excludes and asks for a final consultancy report, but it doesn't list supported costs the way EDG did ("third party consultancy, software and equipment, and internal incremental manpower costs", EDG FAQ).

Illustration. Two versions of the tuition centre's project, with illustrative figures that aren't our pricing. If it buys a listed chatbot package costing S$15,000, the most EDGE pays is 50%, or S$7,500, and only if the whole S$15,000 is supported software cost. Software is the only supported cost the page lists, so any setup or maintenance line in the quote falls outside it. That grant uses S$7,500 of the S$30,000 Automation & Digitalisation cap until 1 April. If instead the centre wants a S$20,000 custom bot on its own, the chatbot category doesn't apply because it isn't a listed package, and a bot on its own is too narrow for Large-scale Digital Transformation. That project goes ahead unfunded. Either way, the centre pays first and claims afterwards.

Pre-approved solution or a vendor of your choice?

That depends on the activity. The EDGE FAQ says: "For activities with pre-approved vendors, businesses should choose from the list as they have been assessed for their credibility. For activities where no pre-approved vendor is required, businesses may engage a vendor of their choice." For an AI chatbot, the GenAI Customer Engagement Chatbot category is the pre-approved route and Large-scale Digital Transformation is the vendor-of-choice route. In both, the FAQ bars suppliers that have "any relationship, connection, association or dealings" with you, your related companies, directors or common shareholders.

	GenAI Customer Engagement Chatbot	Large-scale Digital Transformation
Vendor	Pre-approved, from IMDA's SMEs Go Digital list	Your choice, no list
Support for SMEs	Up to 50%, at most S$7,500 on a cost capped at S$15,000	Up to 50%, no published dollar cap
What's covered	Software, capped at 12 months. Not GST or maintenance	Supported costs not listed. Not isolated task automation, basic IT upgrades, GST or maintenance
What you buy	A packaged product IMDA has pre-approved	Whatever you scope with that vendor, as long as it spans several systems
Paperwork and wait	Vendor quotation and a package built on SMEs Go Digital. Outcome in 1 week	Proposal, quotations, financial statements, 3-year and 1-year projections. Processing time not stated on the page
For the tuition centre	Quick, if a listed chatbot handles its WhatsApp questions as it stands	Only if the bot is part of a wider change, such as linking enrolment, billing and the timetable
Main risk	Paying for features you won't use, or changing your process to fit the product	A long application with no certainty, and scope and quality you have to check yourself

Choose carefully before you submit. The FAQ says vendor changes aren't allowed after submission: "Change requests are only allowed for changes to project end date and claim due date." Anything else means terminating the application and resubmitting.

Do you have to apply before signing or paying?

You have to apply before paying anything or letting work start. The EDGE FAQ says: "Businesses must not have started work or made any payment or deposit to a supplier, vendor, or third party prior to application submission." An application that breaks this is treated as retrospective, which means it covers work or payments from before you applied.

Once you've submitted, you don't have to wait for approval: "You may purchase the solution after successfully submitting the application and before receiving approval. Payment made after the application submission date may be supported if the application is subsequently approved." The FAQ adds that submission doesn't guarantee approval and "the company will bear the risk of any commitment made before the grant is approved." That is looser than PSG, whose FAQ said a "company should not have signed any contract or made any payment before submitting the PSG application" (PSG FAQ). The EDGE FAQ doesn't mention contracts, so sign after you submit as well.

You also have to apply yourself. The FAQ says submissions "must not be made by vendors, service providers, or any other third party, on behalf of the grant applicant."

A sequence that keeps you eligible:

Scope the project and record a baseline. For the tuition centre, that's how many WhatsApp enquiries arrive each week and how many staff hours go on answering them. MIT Project NANDA found 95% of organisations were getting zero return from generative AI, and that most enterprise AI tools fell short through "brittle workflows, lack of contextual learning, and misalignment with day-to-day operations" (The GenAI Divide: State of AI in Business 2025). A grant lowers the cost without changing those odds. The written scope and baseline are how you'll tell, three months after launch, whether the bot is doing its job.
Pick the route. A listed package that covers your questions goes through the GenAI Customer Engagement Chatbot category. A bot that is part of a cross-system project may go through Large-scale Digital Transformation.
Get a written quote from the vendor you'll use, since you can't swap later. For the chatbot category, build the matching package on SMEs Go Digital.
Apply yourself through the Business Grants Portal. No deposit, no payment and no work before you submit.
Sign and pay after submission, if you accept the risk. Payment made after submission is supported only if the application is approved. The cautious option is to wait for the outcome, which the chatbot category puts at 1 week.
Deliver.
Claim after the project is complete and fully paid. For the chatbot category, that includes the photo of the deployed software with its unique identifier.

Does the 400% AI tax deduction stack with EDGE?

Not on the same dollars. The IRAS e-Tax Guide on the Enterprise Innovation Scheme (third edition, 31 August 2026) grants a 400% deduction on the first S$50,000 of qualifying AI expenditure for each Year of Assessment, for YA 2027 and YA 2028 only. A 400% deduction means you take four times what you spent off your taxable income. For a company with a calendar financial year, that is spending in 2026 and 2027. The qualifying amount "excludes any expenditure subsidised by a grant or subsidy from the Government" (Annex F, para 3.1), and the general rule is that only expenditure net of a grant qualifies (para 5.1). The EDGE-funded share never gets the 400%. The share you paid yourself may.

What qualifies, per Annex F:

Subscribing to or licensing an AI system. IRAS lists "conversational AI and generative language models" as examples.
"Qualifying AI business services" tied to developing, deploying, operating or maintaining an AI system, including system development, consultancy and strategy, and system-related training.
Not hardware, and not general management consultancy unrelated to an AI system.

Two limits. There is no cash payout option for the AI category (para 4.1). If your deductions exceed your income, the excess is treated as an unutilised trade loss, a loss you haven't used yet. It can be carried forward subject to the Income Tax Act (paras 5.2 to 5.3). Annex F also doesn't require you to buy through a listed partner.

Illustration. If EDGE pays S$7,500 of the tuition centre's S$15,000 chatbot package, the S$7,500 it paid itself may qualify, giving a deduction of up to S$30,000 against taxable income. If it builds the S$20,000 custom bot with no grant, all S$20,000 may qualify, giving a deduction of up to S$80,000. Have your accountant confirm the treatment before you count on either.

Why won't most small businesses qualify for the Enterprise Compute Initiative?

Because it's designed for companies that already have engineers. DISG requires at least 10 employees based in Singapore, a tech team of 2 or more software engineers, AI engineers or data scientists, prior experience building a custom AI solution, CEO-level sponsorship, relevant datasets and the finances to complete the project. In return it offers cloud credits, training and AI tools from cloud providers, plus 70% of consulting costs up to S$105,000.

The tuition centre has 12 staff and no engineers, so it fails on the tech team and the prior build. The Champions of AI programme announced in Budget 2026 targets firms aiming to "comprehensively transform their business", which also doesn't describe most 12-person firms. For them, EDGE plus the EIS deduction is the realistic route.

What happens if the grant is rejected or the project goes wrong?

Rejected application. If you waited for the outcome before paying, you've lost time and nothing else. If you paid after submitting, that money is yours to bear. You can still go ahead unfunded, and the whole qualifying AI spend, up to S$50,000, may then fall under EIS.
Vendor fails mid-project. You can't switch vendors on the same application. The EDGE FAQ treats an application as retrospective if work has started or any payment has been made before submission, so a fresh application for a half-built project is likely to fail. Ask EnterpriseSG before you commit to a new vendor.
Cash flow. EDGE reimburses after completion and full payment. Budget for the whole amount up front.
Cap already used. The S$100,000 cap and the S$30,000 sub-limit are shared across every activity until 1 April.
The chatbot gets something wrong. It will, occasionally. The grant pays for building it, and handling its mistakes is on you. Before launch, decide which questions go straight to a person and who answers them. For the tuition centre, that would be refunds, a child's progress and any complaint.

What should you ask any vendor before applying?

Which EDGE activity would this project sit under, the GenAI Customer Engagement Chatbot category or Large-scale Digital Transformation?
If it's the chatbot category, is your package on IMDA's SMEs Go Digital list, and where can I see that?
Which parts of the quote are software, which are setup or consultancy, and which are ongoing fees? The chatbot category supports only software, for up to 12 months, and the split also affects how much of the cost can count for the EIS deduction.
Will you hold off starting work or taking a deposit until I've submitted the application, and ideally until the outcome?
What does it cost per month to run, and who pays for changes? Our AI chatbot cost guide breaks down the running costs.
Where will customer data be stored, and who can see it? See PDPA, ChatGPT and AI chatbots.
What does the chatbot do when it doesn't know the answer?
Which number should change, and how will we both measure it?

Do you need a grant at all?

Not always. If an off-the-shelf chatbot subscription covers your questions, the application, the wait and the delay before reimbursement may cost more of your time than the grant saves. Skip it if your business has under 30% Singaporean or PR ownership (you're not eligible), if the bot you want isn't a listed package and isn't part of a wider project, or if the project only makes financial sense with half the cost paid by EDGE. In that last case, it probably shouldn't be built.

Where Cortex Lab AI fits

We're a Singapore consultancy that builds WhatsApp AI chatbots and workflow automation inside tools clients already pay for, and we follow the PDPA, Singapore's privacy law. We are not a pre-approved EDGE vendor and we're not on the SMEs Go Digital list, so our work doesn't qualify for the chatbot category. We can't apply on your behalf either, because EnterpriseSG states that "Third-party companies are not permitted to apply for or manage the grant on behalf of the applicant company" (GenAI chatbot activity page). And we can't tell you a project will be funded. We can help you scope the project before you apply, so the quote, the activity question and the baseline are ready when you do. Book a free 30-minute consultation.

Frequently asked questions

Is there still a PSG grant for AI chatbots?

No. PSG stopped accepting applications on 29 September 2026. Applications submitted before 30 September are still assessed under PSG rules, and new projects go through the EDGE Grant.

How much can an SME get from the EDGE Grant?

For an AI chatbot, up to 50%. The GenAI Customer Engagement Chatbot category pays at most S$7,500 on a package costing up to S$15,000, and Large-scale Digital Transformation pays up to 50%, with no published dollar cap. Some other EDGE activities go up to 70%. All of it sits within a cap of S$100,000 per company per year, resetting on 1 April, of which at most S$30,000 can go on single-function digital solutions, integrated enterprise systems and selected automation.

Can I pay a vendor before applying for EDGE?

No. The EDGE FAQ says businesses "must not have started work or made any payment or deposit to a supplier, vendor, or third party prior to application submission." You may pay after submitting, but that payment is supported only if the application is approved.

Can I claim EDGE and the 400% AI tax deduction on the same project?

On the same project, possibly. On the same dollars, no. IRAS excludes grant-subsidised expenditure from the AI deduction, so only the share you paid yourself may qualify, up to S$50,000 per Year of Assessment for YA 2027 and YA 2028.

Does my business qualify for the Enterprise Compute Initiative?

Only if you have at least 10 employees in Singapore, a tech team of 2 or more, experience building a custom AI solution and CEO-level sponsorship. Most small businesses without engineers don't qualify.

Do consultancy fees count under EDGE?

Not under the GenAI Customer Engagement Chatbot category, which supports software costs only, capped at 12 months. Large-scale Digital Transformation asks for a final consultancy report but doesn't list its supported costs as of 30 September 2026. Confirm with EnterpriseSG before you budget for consultancy.

Sources, all checked 30 September 2026 and re-checked 5 October 2026: EnterpriseSG EDGE Grant; EDGE Grant FAQ; EDGE GenAI Customer Engagement Chatbot; EDGE Large-scale Digital Transformation; IMDA SMEs Go Digital; PSG page and PSG FAQ; EDG page and EDG FAQ; Budget 2026 statement, section C; IRAS e-Tax Guide, Enterprise Innovation Scheme, third edition; DISG Enterprise Compute Initiative; MIT Project NANDA, The GenAI Divide: State of AI in Business 2025 (PDF copy hosted by MLQ.ai).