In today’s rapidly evolving business environment, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) have to continuously seek new avenues for breakthrough and growth. To help enterprises capture emerging market opportunities, the BUD Fund has recently introduced a series of enhancement measures to further strengthen support for SMEs.
The Dedicated Fund on Branding, Upgrading and Domestic Sales (BUD Fund) provides funding support to non-listed Hong Kong enterprises in developing their businesses in the Chinese Mainland and other target markets, including those with which Hong Kong has signed Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and/or Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements (IPPAs), through developing brands, upgrading and restructuring operations, and promoting sales. The cumulative funding ceiling per enterprise under the BUD Fund is HK$7 million.
There are 3 types of applications under the BUD Fund:
General application: the major type of application which covers an array of fundable measures with a funding ceiling of HK$800,000 per application;
“Easy BUD”: involves designated measures with a funding ceiling of HK$150,000 per application. Its processing time is 30 working days as compared to the 60-working-day performance pledge for other BUD Fund applications;
“E-commerce Easy”: assists enterprises in developing the Chinese Mainland and 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) markets through electronic commerce (e-commerce) business. The funding ceiling per application is $800,000 and the cumulative funding ceiling per enterprise is $1 million (counted towards the $7 million funding ceiling under the BUD Fund).
To support SMEs in enhancing their competitiveness, the Government rolled out a host of enhancement measures with effect from 15 June 2026, including:
expansion of the geographical scope of the BUD Fund by 20% to cover Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Egypt, Hungary, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Brazil for general BUD and Easy BUD applications;
increasing the funding ceiling per “Easy BUD” application by 50% from $100,000 to $150,000; and
(c) providing more targeted funding support for enterprises to implement BUD Fund projects which involve artificial intelligence (AI) elements.
Furthermore, in anticipation of the consolidation of the SME Export Marketing Fund into the BUD Fund on 1 July 2026, Trade and Industry Department has updated the guidelines to provide more detailed explanations regarding exhibitions and a reference list of past approved exhibitions.
For details, please visit the BUD Fund website.
Note:
The geographical coverage of the BUD Fund includes 48 economies, namely, the Chinese Mainland, 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) (comprising Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam), Australia, Chile, the four member states of the European Free Trade Association (i.e. Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland), Georgia, Macao, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, Austria, Belgo-Luxembourg Economic Union, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Türkiye, Bahrain, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Egypt, Hungary, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Brazil.