🇭🇰 HK Government Funding
Turn your HK company into a
BUD-funded growth engine
The BUD Fund backs Hong Kong companies expanding their brand, upgrading operations, and growing domestic sales — up to HK$7,000,000 cumulative. The catch: you must be operating for at least one year with MPF records to prove it.
What the BUD Fund covers
Branding, Upgrading, Domestic Sales
BUD is a matching grant — the government co-funds approved projects up to 50% of eligible costs. Three programme streams cover most growth activities a real operating company needs to scale.
Branding
Brand identity development, market research, advertising campaigns,
overseas promotion, and trade fair participation. Covers both HK
and mainland China market activities under the mainland programme.
Upgrading
Process improvement, equipment acquisition, technology adoption,
quality certification, and staff training directly tied to a funded
project scope. Software subscriptions tied to an approved project
can qualify.
Domestic Sales
Expanding sales channels in the mainland China market, including
e-commerce platform entry, distribution network development, and
sales promotion activities. Particularly relevant for 出海 companies
targeting mainland customers from an HK base.
Two programmes: mainland + ASEAN/other markets
BUD has a Mainland Programme (covering the mainland China market) and
a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) Programme covering markets with HK
free-trade agreements (ASEAN, Australia, NZ, EU, etc.). Companies can
apply under both.
Eligibility
The rules — and why they matter for 出海 companies
BUD has tighter eligibility than most HK grants. Meeting the criteria is not a formality — HKPC (the administering body) checks each requirement against company records.
≥ 1 year operating in Hong Kong
The applicant company must have been incorporated and operating
in HK for at least one year before the application date. A newly formed
shell cannot apply — HKPC looks for genuine trading activity, not just
a registered address.
≥ 6 months MPF contribution records
The company must have made Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) contributions
for at least 6 months. MPF records are the clearest proof of genuine
employment — HKPC uses them to verify real operations.
No MPF = no BUD, regardless of how long the company has been registered.
Substantive HK operations
Post-2024 substance rules have tightened across HK grant schemes.
HKPC expects real HK decision-making: at least one director or key
employee based in HK, business decisions made in HK, and a registered
address that is an actual office (not just a mail drop).
Other standard conditions
The company must not be in financial distress, must not have received
a BUD approval for the same or substantially similar project within
2 years, and must comply with HK law. Projects must not have commenced
before approval is granted.
⚠️ Common disqualifier
Companies that registered in HK but never hired anyone — or let their MPF
lapse — will fail the basic eligibility check. This is why CompanyForge
builds real substance from day one: staff on payroll, MPF enrolled, and
a working HK office. It pays off at month 12.
Grant amounts
Up to HK$7,000,000 cumulative — with matching
BUD reimburses up to 50% of approved project costs. The remaining 50% is your co-investment. Each approved project has its own ceiling; you build toward the cumulative cap over multiple applications.
HK$7M
Cumulative cap across all approved BUD projects per company
(per HKPC BUD programme docs)
50%
Maximum government co-funding rate — you fund the other half
(matching-grant structure)
HK$500K–2M
Typical first-tranche approval for a well-scoped project
(indicative range based on project type)
2
Programmes available: Mainland Programme + FTA Programme — companies
may apply to both
(HKPC BUD structure)
Note on project scope: Grant quantum depends on the approved
project budget, not on company revenue. A tightly scoped, well-evidenced
project of HK$1,000,000 total cost could receive up to HK$500,000 in grant
funding. Larger ambitions require larger budgets and stronger documentary proof.
The month-12 milestone
Why BUD is built into every 出海 setup from day one
If you form a real HK company — with staff, MPF, and genuine operations — BUD eligibility arrives automatically at month 12. This is not a coincidence: it is the retention flywheel we design into every 出海 Landing Pack.
Month 0
HK company formed
Entity incorporated via our licensed TCSP partners. Registered address,
company secretary, and bank account introduction arranged.
→
Month 1–3
First hire + MPF enrolled
At least one employee on payroll. MPF enrolled and first contributions
made. The 6-month MPF clock starts now.
→
Month 6
MPF condition met
Six months of MPF contributions on record. Half the eligibility equation
is satisfied. Time to scope your first BUD project with CompanyForge.
→
Month 12
BUD eligible — apply now
One full year of HK operations. Both conditions met. Submit your first
BUD application. First-tranche approval typically takes 3–6 months
after submission.
→
Month 18+
Grant disbursed
Upon approval, funds reimburse eligible project costs as you incur them.
Subsequent applications stack toward the HK$7M cumulative cap.
出海 Landing Pack clients
Every client who takes the 出海 Landing Pack automatically enters this
timeline. We flag the month-6 and month-12 milestones in your ForgeOps
subscription calendar so nothing is missed. BUD advisory is included in
the Funding Sprint package at month 12.
Application timeline
What to expect after you submit
BUD applications go through multiple assessment stages. Plan your project budget and spend schedule around these lead times — approved projects cannot have started before the approval letter is issued.
Preparation (4–8 weeks)
Project scope design, budget modelling, documentary evidence gathering
(company registration, MPF statements, bank records, business plan),
and application form drafting. This is where most applications win or lose.
HKPC assessment (8–16 weeks)
HKPC reviews the application. They may request additional information
or arrange an interview. Incomplete applications or vague project scopes
are the primary cause of delay at this stage.
Approval & project start
Upon approval, HKPC issues an approval letter with the approved budget
and project duration. You may only incur eligible costs after
this date. Projects typically run 12–24 months.
Reporting & reimbursement
During the project, you submit progress reports and claim reimbursement
for eligible costs. Detailed record-keeping is mandatory — all invoices,
receipts, and staff timesheets must be retained.
Common pitfalls
Why applications fail — and how to avoid it
Most BUD rejections come from avoidable mistakes in scoping, documentation, or timing. These are the patterns we see most often.
This is an automatic disqualifier. If you signed a contract, made a
payment, or began any project activity before receiving the HKPC approval
letter, those costs are ineligible. Applications that reference
pre-commenced activities are rejected. Always wait for the approval letter —
even if you are confident about the outcome.
"Improve our marketing" is not a BUD project. HKPC needs a specific,
measurable project with defined deliverables, a detailed budget broken
down by cost item, and a clear link to branding, upgrading, or domestic
sales objectives. Projects with loosely defined scopes trigger repeated
information requests and often stall permanently.
HKPC cross-checks MPF records against the claimed employment history.
Gaps in contributions, inconsistent employee counts, or records showing
contributions made in lump sums (rather than regular monthly payments)
raise flags. Enroll MPF from your first hire and maintain it continuously.
Post-2024 substance rules mean HKPC looks more closely at whether the
applicant company has genuine HK presence. A company whose directors are
all overseas, whose registered address is a well-known virtual office
provider, and who cannot produce HK-based staff records is likely to face
significant scrutiny. Substance matters — a real desk, real people, real
decisions made in HK.
HKPC assessors are experienced at benchmarking project costs. Inflated
budgets — e.g., listing consultancy fees far above market rate, or
claiming staff time that cannot be evidenced — are red flags. The right
strategy is to submit a realistic budget with solid supporting
quotations and staff allocation records, then execute precisely against it.
BUD prohibits re-applying for a project that was funded or rejected
within the past 2 years if the scope is substantially the same. Each
application must represent a genuinely new project phase or activity.
This is another reason to sequence multiple BUD projects carefully over time.
How CompanyForge helps
From eligibility to approval — via Funding Sprint
Our Funding Sprint advisory covers BUD from the eligibility assessment through to submission and HKPC query response. We know the scheme because we have built BUD-eligible companies ourselves — Kangleling 康乐龄 and CareEZ are live proof.
Eligibility & timing assessment
We review your MPF records, incorporation date, and operational
substance before you invest time in an application. If you are not
ready, we tell you exactly what needs to happen and by when —
so you apply when you will succeed, not a month too early.
Project scope design
We translate your real business objectives into a BUD-eligible project
scope with defined deliverables, a compliant budget breakdown, and
a clear link to the branding/upgrading/domestic-sales criteria.
Scope is where most applications succeed or fail.
Application drafting & documentary support
Full drafting of the BUD application form, business plan narrative,
budget justification, and supporting document checklist. We help you
gather the right evidence before HKPC asks for it.
Query response & interview prep
When HKPC raises additional information requests or invites an
assessment interview, we prepare the responses and coach you on
how to present the project. Applicants who respond promptly and
precisely move through assessment faster.
Reporting & compliance during the project
BUD does not end at approval. We help structure your record-keeping
system, milestone reporting schedule, and cost claim documentation
so reimbursement goes smoothly — and future applications are not
jeopardised by reporting failures on the current one.
Multi-application sequencing
The HK$7M cap is cumulative, not per-application. We design a
multi-phase BUD strategy so your company builds toward the cap over
successive projects — each scoped to maximise approval odds and
reimbursement speed.
BUD advisory included
Funding Sprint
HK$15,000–30,000 fixed
+ 8–12% success fee per grant application
- Eligibility and timing assessment
- Project scope design and budget model
- Full BUD application drafting
- Documentary support and evidence checklist
- HKPC query response and interview prep
- Reporting setup for reimbursement compliance
- 50% credit if preceded by ForgeScan
ForgeScan credit: If you complete a ForgeScan readiness
diagnostic first, 50% of the ForgeScan fee is credited toward your
Funding Sprint. The ForgeScan also confirms your BUD eligibility timing
so you do not invest in an application prematurely.
Live proof
We built BUD-eligible companies ourselves
CompanyForge's advisory is grounded in operating experience, not theory. Our own ventures went through HK formation, substance-building, and grant readiness — we know what HKPC looks for because we have been through it.
Kangleling 康乐龄
HK-registered eldercare food company with real MPF records, HK staff,
and active product operations. Built from formation to grant-readiness
on the same playbook we deliver to clients.
CareEZ
HK company developing a dysphagia screening application. HKSTP-adjacent
with real HK operations, demonstrating the cross-scheme eligibility
strategy (BUD + HKSTP + AISS alignment) we advise clients to pursue.
PierForge
Cross-border trade AI built and operated as a HK company with real
operations. Proof that technology ventures established from scratch
in HK can build the substance needed for BUD and related grant schemes.
FAQ
BUD Fund — frequently asked questions
Questions we hear from mainland China founders and HK SMEs considering BUD for the first time.
At the earliest, 12 months after formation — provided you have also
made at least 6 months of MPF contributions. The safest approach is
to start scoping your first BUD project at month 6 (when the MPF
condition is nearly met) and submit your application at month 12.
We track this milestone for all ForgeOps subscription clients.
Yes — ownership structure is not a disqualifier. What matters is that
the HK company is the applicant, the company is genuinely operating in HK,
and the project activities are real and documentable. Many BUD applicants
are HK subsidiaries or affiliates of mainland China companies.
Eligible costs typically include consultancy fees, marketing and
promotional expenses, equipment, software directly tied to the project,
staff salaries for time spent on the project (with timesheets),
travel, and exhibition fees. General overhead costs are not eligible.
We help you identify and segregate eligible costs during project scoping
to maximise the claimable amount.
Yes, as long as the projects are distinct. Double-claiming the same
costs across multiple grants is not permitted, but separate projects
or non-overlapping budget line items can be funded by different schemes
concurrently. Aligning BUD with HKSTP or AISS is a strategy we
specifically advise on during ForgeScan.
The Mainland Programme funds activities targeting the mainland China market.
The FTA Programme funds activities in markets covered by HK's free-trade
agreements — including ASEAN countries, Australia, New Zealand, and others.
Companies with both mainland and international markets can apply under
both programmes, effectively doubling available BUD headroom.
No. Grant outcomes depend on HKPC's assessment, your company's
specific circumstances, project quality, and scheme availability at
the time of submission. We advise on eligibility and strengthen your
application — we do not guarantee outcomes. Our success fee structure
(8–12% per grant) aligns our incentives with yours: we are motivated
to maximise your approval odds.
Also consider
BUD is one scheme — stack it with others
A well-designed grant strategy uses BUD alongside complementary schemes — different eligibility windows, different project types, same operating company.
Ready to check your BUD eligibility?
Start with a ForgeScan — a HK$8,000–15,000 readiness diagnostic that confirms your eligibility timing, identifies the right project scope, and credits 50% toward your Funding Sprint if you proceed. No application pressure. Just a clear picture of where you stand.
Book a ForgeScanOr email us directly at [email protected] — we respond within one business day.