Resource · Funding · Singapore → Malaysia

From MRA to the EDGE Grant: Funding Your Expansion into Malaysia

What replaced the Market Readiness Assistance grant on 30 September 2026, who can use it, and how the marketing side of a Malaysia launch is usually scoped.

Quick answer: The MRA grant closed on 29 September 2026. From 30 September, a Singapore company expanding into Malaysia applies under the EDGE Grant instead. The marketing route is the "Overseas Marketing & Public Relations" activity: it supports the professional service costs of marketing and PR in the overseas market, at up to 70% for SMEs and up to 50% for non-SMEs, within an annual cap of S$100,000 per company across all EDGE activities. Each target market is a separate application, and support is paid as a reimbursement after the work is done.

Written for the marketing, regional-expansion and finance teams of Singapore companies planning Malaysia as a market. It is an owner-side overview, not funding advice. Enterprise Singapore's pages are authoritative, and every figure here links to one of them.

What changed on 30 September 2026

  • Three grants became one. Enterprise Singapore states that the Enterprise Development Grant (EDG), the Market Readiness Assistance grant (MRA) and the Productivity Solutions Grant (PSG) ceased on 29 September 2026. From 30 September, business grant support is applied for under the EDGE Grant.
  • Overseas expansion now sits under Internationalisation, one of EDGE's business areas, alongside areas such as automation and digitalisation, business strategy and sustainability.
  • Applications already in. Enterprise Singapore's EDGE FAQ says applications submitted before 30 September 2026 are still assessed under the scheme they were submitted to.

Who can use it, including companies that are not SMEs

  • Basic criteria: registered in Singapore, with at least 30% Singaporean and/or Singapore PR ownership.
  • SMEs (group annual turnover up to S$100 million, or group employment up to 200) can receive up to 70% support.
  • Non-SMEs can receive up to 50% support for internationalisation activities (up to 30% for most other EDGE activities). A larger Singapore company planning a Malaysia launch is therefore inside the scheme, not outside it.
  • Annual cap: up to S$100,000 in total grant support per company per year across all EDGE activities, refreshed on 1 April. A Malaysia project competes for the same cap as any other EDGE project you run that year.
  • One market per application: you select the primary market the project focuses on, so Malaysia is applied for on its own.

All of the above is from Enterprise Singapore's EDGE FAQ and EDGE Grant page.

What MRA used to cover, and what replaces it under EDGE

If your team has an MRA plan on file, this is what it was built on. Under MRA, Enterprise Singapore supported overseas marketing and PR (for example launching a campaign, developing a social media presence, and online or offline media coverage), overseas trade fairs, overseas business development and market set-up. MRA support was capped at S$100,000 per company per new market, with overseas market promotion capped at S$20,000 within that, per the MRA page.

Under EDGE, the same ground is split into named activities, each with its own page. The one that matters for a marketing launch is Overseas Marketing & Public Relations:

  • What it is for: marketing and PR that builds brand visibility and product awareness in the overseas market, including publicity across social media and online and offline media, in-store promotions, roadshows and pop-up stores.
  • What it pays towards: professional service costs. Travel, accommodation and staff costs, GST, and anything aimed at domestic business are not supported, nor is activity with no clear engagement with the target market.
  • Support level: up to 70% for SMEs and up to 50% for non-SMEs. Enterprise Singapore's activity page shows no separate dollar cap for it, so it sits within the S$100,000 annual EDGE cap.
  • To apply, you need from your vendor: a proposal and quotation, and a track record showing relevant credentials for the activity in the target market. You also project the overseas sales and jobs the project should produce in the year after it ends.
  • To claim, you need: dated records of what was done, evidence that content was adapted to the local market, proof of payment, English translations of foreign-language documents, and an audit engagement letter from Enterprise Singapore's panel of auditors.

Other internationalisation activities sit alongside it, including International Branding (brand research, strategy and identity for the overseas market), market entry set-up, overseas business development staff deployment and overseas trade fairs. MRA's old activity caps do not carry across; read each activity's own page before you budget.

The EDGE "digital marketing" line is a different thing

EDGE also has a digital marketing solutions line under Automation and Digitalisation. It is easy to confuse with overseas marketing, but it is not the route for a Malaysian campaign:

  • it supports software subscriptions from IMDA's list of pre-approved vendors and solutions;
  • the solution must be used or implemented in Singapore;
  • the project cost cap is S$10,000.

We are not on IMDA's pre-approved list, and nothing on this page suggests our services qualify under that line.

What the Malaysia marketing side of the plan usually includes

The marketing workstream of a Malaysia market-entry plan tends to draw on the same handful of measures. These are types of work, not a statement of what EDGE will fund; that is decided by Enterprise Singapore against the activity's own rules. One distinction matters when you budget: the Overseas Marketing & PR activity lists professional service costs as supportable, so plan the media spend itself as your own cost unless Enterprise Singapore confirms otherwise for your project.

  • Launch campaigns targeted at Malaysia: planning, creative and management of search and social ads geo-targeted to the market you applied for. Malaysian auctions clear at different prices from Singapore's, so budget in Ringgit; see the Singapore vs Malaysia ad costs comparison, Google Ads costs in Malaysia and Facebook ads costs in Malaysia.
  • Creative for Malaysia's language mix: English, Bahasa Malaysia and Chinese versions are usually needed for the same offer; Chinese-speaking Malaysians are also reached through Xiaohongshu and KOL content.
  • A Malaysian landing page or site section with local pricing, contact routes and a WhatsApp option.
  • Timing around the Malaysian calendar: the mega-sale calendar and festive periods shift costs and demand.
  • Local rules that touch the campaign: Malaysia's PDPA for lead data, and SST on digital advertising for how ad costs are taxed.

For the full sequence of a first-year plan, see the marketing plan for a new Malaysian business.

How we fit

shakalakaa is a marketing agency based in Kuala Lumpur, running campaigns in Malaysia every day. Our Singapore office is at 20 Cecil Street, and contracts are with Plixitt Solutions. We are not a grant consultant, we do not prepare EDGE applications, and we are not an IMDA pre-approved vendor. Whether a vendor's costs are supportable is assessed by Enterprise Singapore against its own criteria. The application and the claim belong to your company and its advisers; the in-market work in Malaysia is what we do.

To talk through the Malaysia side of an expansion plan, request a credentials pack, or see how we work with larger Singapore businesses.

Questions

Can I still apply for the MRA grant?

No. Enterprise Singapore states that EDG, MRA and PSG ceased on 29 September 2026. From 30 September, overseas expansion support is applied for under the EDGE Grant's Internationalisation business area. Applications submitted before 30 September continue to be assessed under the MRA rules.

Can a company that is not an SME use the EDGE Grant to expand into Malaysia?

Yes, if it meets the general criteria, including registration in Singapore and at least 30% Singaporean or PR ownership. Enterprise Singapore's FAQ gives non-SMEs up to 50% support for internationalisation activities, against up to 70% for SMEs, within the overall annual cap of S$100,000 per company.

Does the EDGE Grant pay for ad spend in Malaysia?

Enterprise Singapore's Overseas Marketing & Public Relations activity lists professional service costs as the supportable cost, such as the agency or PR firm's fees for planning, localised content and campaign management. Media spend is not listed, so plan it as your own cost unless Enterprise Singapore confirms otherwise for your project.

Does shakalakaa prepare EDGE Grant applications?

No. We are a marketing agency based in Kuala Lumpur with a Singapore office, not a grant consultant, and we are not an IMDA pre-approved vendor. Where your Malaysia plan includes marketing in Malaysia, that in-market work is what we do.

Sources

How this page is maintained

Every figure on this page comes from Enterprise Singapore's own pages. Where a figure could not be checked there, it has been left out. EDGE launched on 30 September 2026, so its pages may still change; if the scheme changes, tell us and we will correct or remove the line.

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