BUILD A COMPOUNDING
AI EMPLOYEE.
RECLAIM UP TO 50% VIA EDG.
The Enterprise Development Grant covers Singapore SMEs taking on Innovation & Productivity projects — including custom AI builds. We structure every engagement to give Enterprise Singapore the artefacts it expects: scope, deliverables, KPIs, and a final report.
~5 min · pre-filled PDF · email-gated
Productivity
EDG → EDGE: schemes consolidate H2 2026. In-flight EDG applications honoured. Verify current rates with Enterprise Singapore.
What EDG is.
The Enterprise Development Grant supports Singapore SMEs taking on projects that grow, innovate, or expand the business. It runs across three pillars: Core Capabilities, Innovation & Productivity, and Market Access.
Custom AI Employee builds typically fit under Innovation & Productivity — specifically Automation, Process Redesign, or Product Development. Standard SME support covers up to 50% of qualifying project costs. Higher quanta are available case- by-case under the Enterprise Sustainability overlay.
EDG is reimbursement-based: you pay invoices as the project progresses, then submit a final claim with deliverables and a report. Enterprise Singapore disburses the approved subsidy after the claim is verified.
Who can claim.
These are the standard EDG criteria the SME must meet at the point of application. We help confirm the project itself is EDG-shaped during the discovery call.
Registered & operating in Singapore
ACRA-registered, with operations on the ground here.
≥30% local equity
Minimum 30% local shareholding (Singapore citizens or Singapore PRs).
In a financially viable position
Group annual sales ≤S$100M or group employment size ≤200 (SME-tier criteria).
Project hasn't started
EDG cannot retroactively cover work already in progress. Apply before scope kicks off.
Project drives capability, productivity, or revenue
Tangible outcomes — automation, market entry, capability uplift — with measurable KPIs.
SME ready to take on the engagement
Cash flow and capacity to fund the project before reimbursement.
Run the wizard. Walk away with a pre-filled EDG brief.
~5 min. PDF you can drop into your BGP application or hand to your accountant. We get a copy and prep for the discovery call.
What we deliver under EDG.
An EDG-aligned engagement isn't just “here's some software.” It is consulting + custom build + measurement, scoped against a workflow you actually want to change. Deliverables map onto Enterprise Singapore's expectations.
Workflow analysis & AI Employee spec
We sit with the team that does the work, map the as-is, and produce a written specification for the AI Employee — capabilities, integrations, escalation paths, KPIs.
Custom Mind Layer agent
Personality, memory, knowledge graph, tools, and integrations. Self-improvement loops on. Quality scorecards in place. Built on api.sonz.ai.
Live deployment in your stack
Controlled rollout against a real cohort. Baseline metrics captured. Adjustments made on observable data, not vibes.
KPI scoring & final report
Quality scorecards, conversion lift, cost-to-serve deltas, time saved — formatted for Enterprise Singapore submission alongside the technical artefacts.
Enablement
Your team owns the result. We document the agent design, runbooks, and the eval setup so you can keep iterating after we hand off.
Post-launch retrieval re-tunes
Per-pair retrieval keeps adapting after handover. We're available for steering during the early production weeks at a per-engagement support rate.
One memory.
Every AI Employee. Every teammate.
The reason a Sonzai AI Employee gets sharper after launch — and the reason it survives the EDG capability-uplift criterion — is Multiplayer Memory. Every agent on your project shares a typed knowledge graph. Documents auto-ingest, agents auto-update the KB, newer facts supersede older ones. Your team owns the runtime, the memory graph, and the audit trail at the end of the engagement.
- —Intra + inter-agent — same graph, all your agents share it
- —Typed facts (Person, Account, Decision, Promise, Document)
- —Documents auto-ingest; agents auto-update the KB
- —Newer information supersedes older facts, automatically
Sharper every session.
No training infrastructure.
EDG looks for capability uplift that lasts past the engagement. Sonzai's runtime delivers it: every sessions.End() triggers fact extraction, dedup, personality drift, mood update, diary, and quality scoring — and per-(agent, user) SGD plus bandits tune retrieval to your operation. Year 1 is measurably sharper than Day 1, and your team owns the data, the model pins, and the audit trail.
- —Per-(agent, user) retrieval tuned by SGD on each session's reward
- —Multi-armed bandit (Thompson sampling) over memory clusters
- —Shadow-rollout RL with auto-revert — production never sees a bad policy
- —Daily/weekly jobs: tree pruning, decay, diary, milestone detection
Discovery to disbursement.
Five steps. We support each one — but the SME owns the application. EDG submissions go in your name, on the BGP / Enterprise Singapore portal.
- 01
Discovery call
with us · free · 30 minScope the AI Employee, confirm EDG fit, identify the workflow and the KPIs that matter.
- 02
Proposal & SOW
by us · 5–10 daysWritten scope, deliverables, milestones, KPIs, and pricing — formatted to drop into your EDG application.
- 03
EDG submission
by you · with our supportYou file via the Business Grants Portal. We provide the technical brief, vendor info, and project-rationale text Enterprise Singapore expects.
- 04
Review & approval
Enterprise Singapore · 6–12 weeks typicalEnterprise Singapore reviews the application. If clarifications are requested, we draft the response with you.
- 05
Build, deliver, claim
joint · 4–8 weeks buildWe build and pilot. You pay invoices as the project progresses. We package the final report; you submit the EDG claim and receive the disbursement.
EDG vs. PSG vs. the rest.
EDG isn't the only scheme. The discovery call covers which one (or which combination) actually fits.
| Scheme | Best for | Sonzai fit |
|---|---|---|
EDG Enterprise Development Grant | Custom development & consulting projects with measurable productivity impact. | Native fit. Custom AI Employee builds. |
PSG Productivity Solutions Grant | Pre-approved off-the-shelf software adoption. Faster, simpler, but rigid scope. | Adjacent. Some Sonzai-flavoured tooling can ride alongside a PSG-listed solution. |
MRA Market Readiness Assistance | Overseas market expansion costs (set-up, in-market promotion, business matching). | Layer this when the AI Employee is part of an SEA expansion play. |
SFEC SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit | Workforce transformation & capability-building costs. | Pairs with EDG for the team-enablement portion of a build. |
EDG questions we get every week.
How long does EDG approval take?
Enterprise Singapore typically reviews EDG applications within 6–12 weeks of submission. Build kickoff happens after approval. We support you with technical specs, deliverables, and KPI documentation during the application window so you don't lose calendar time.
Do I need to pay upfront if I'm claiming via EDG?
EDG is a reimbursement grant — you pay invoices as the project progresses, then submit a final claim with deliverables and an audit-style report. Enterprise Singapore disburses the approved subsidy after the claim is verified. Our payment milestones can be staged to align with the EDG cash-flow shape.
What if EDG isn't approved?
If EDG isn't approved, the project is yours to proceed with at full cost or to pause. We don't lock you in. We also explore PSG (Productivity Solutions Grant) for off-the-shelf adjacent solutions and other support schemes (e.g. SkillsFuture for capability transfer).
What does Sonzai actually deliver under an EDG-aligned engagement?
Workflow analysis and AI Employee specification, custom build on the Mind Layer (memory, personality, mood, knowledge graph, relationship state), integrations to your stack, pilot deployment, KPI measurement, knowledge transfer, and a final report formatted for Enterprise Singapore submission.
Are there other Singapore grants for AI?
PSG covers pre-approved off-the-shelf software (faster but rigid). MRA (Market Readiness Assistance) covers overseas expansion. SFEC (SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit) supports workforce upskilling. EDG is the right fit for custom development engagements like a tailored AI Employee. The discovery call covers which scheme(s) actually fit.
Can a startup with <3 years of trading apply?
Yes — the standard EDG criteria don't impose a fixed minimum trading age, but Enterprise Singapore weighs financial viability and capacity to deliver. Younger SMEs sometimes get scrutinised harder on cash flow. We've supported applications from companies under 18 months old.
Can the AI Employee be cloud-hosted, or does it need to be on-prem?
Either, depending on your data sensitivity. Default is hosted on api.sonz.ai (Singapore-incorporated, PDPA-aligned). For regulated workloads we support private regions and on-prem integration patterns via vLLM, Ollama, or TGI for the LLM tier.
What's the typical EDG-shaped project size with you?
Custom AI Employee builds typically run S$30K–80K all-in. The first build is the heaviest; subsequent agents on the same project (e.g. a second AI Employee for a different workflow) reuse a lot of the integration work and come in cheaper.
YOUR AI EMPLOYEE,
HALF SUBSIDISED.
30 minutes with the founders. We confirm if you're EDG-fit, what the AI Employee should do, and what reasonable KPIs look like. You walk away with the makings of an EDG application either way.
5 minutes · downloadable PDF · we get a copy too
Sonzai Labs Pte Ltd · Singapore-incorporated · PDPA-aligned