BUD Funding Application in Hong Kong for Hong Kong Companies

Dedicated Fund on Branding, Upgrading and International Expansion (BUD Fund) of Hong Kong for Hong Kong Companies

The “Dedicated Fund on Branding, Upgrading and Domestic Sales” (the BUD Fund), supervised by the Hong Kong Productivity Council, is   Government-backed funding that is dedicated to supporting Hong Kong companies to develop their brands, upgrade and or restructure their business operations in other international markets that have a Free Trade Agreement with Hong Kong. The funding can also be used to boost sales in the respective international markets.  These include:

ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam), Australia, Austria, Belgo-Luxembourg Economic Union, Canada, Chile, Denmark, the four member states of the European Free Trade Association member states (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland), Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Macao, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Sweden, Türkiye, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

Funding Ceiling per project is capped at HKD1 million.

What is the upper limit for funding per company?

The BUD Fund accepts applications throughout the year. Each company can apply for a maximum of 70 projects, 50%  funded with a maximum of HKD 1 million per project. The total funding ceiling is a maximum of HKD 7 million for each company. Each project will be given a timeframe of a maximum of 2 years or less to complete.

What are the eligibility requirements for funding?

(1) having registered in Hong Kong under the Business Registration Ordinance (Chapter 310), or being a statutory organisation in Hong Kong, or being a company with a valid business license in the FTA and/or IPPA economies (applicable to FTA and IPPA Programme), and

(2) having established for at least one year, and

(3) The applicant must provide documentary evidence proving its substantive business operations in Hong Kong at the time of application. Such evidence can be employee records, tax returns, business transaction documents such as business contracts, invoices, etc.

(4) For an application which involves project implementation by the entity of the applicant in the FTA and/or IPPA market (the local entity), the applicant must provide documentary evidence proving its direct investment relationship with the local entity. The applicant would be considered as having a direct investment relationship with the local entity and thus eligible if it meets one of the following criteria (please refer to Annex 3 for illustration):
(A) the applicant (enterprise) holds more than 50% shareholding of the entity in the local market; or
(B) one individual shareholder (natural person) with at least 30% shareholding of the applicant holds more than 50% of the
shareholding of the local entity; or
(C) the applicant (enterprise) and the local entity are 100% held by the same group of shareholders (natural persons).

We offer free assessments to any businesses who are seeking to apply for the BUD funding. Please contact our Hong Kong Office for more details.