EMDG Grant 2026: Tiers, Rules and Next Round Status

Is the EMDG Grant Open? Status on 30 October 2026

There's no EMDG round open on 30 October 2026, and none has been announced. Austrade's apply page (opens in a new tab) says Round 4 is closed, and its main page says it "will update our website when timing of the next grant round is confirmed".

What this means in practice: if you missed Round 4, there's nothing to apply for today. The useful work now is getting eligible (2 years on the same ABN, turnover records, tax compliance, a real export plan) so you're ready when a round opens. Austrade's Independent Review page (opens in a new tab) says news on the next round will go out on its website and in the EMDG Update newsletter.

For the wider picture of state business grants, the NSW small business grants guide is the overview; this page goes deeper on EMDG only.

How Much the EMDG Pays: Round 4 Tiers

Round 4 had 4 grant types and a $20,000 minimum for every business tier. According to Austrade's eligibility criteria and grant amounts (opens in a new tab) page, the maximums per financial year were:

Source: Austrade tier pages and the Round 4 EMDG Grant Guidelines 2025-26, 2026-27, read 30 October 2026.

Every business is capped at 8 financial years of EMDG across all rounds, which don't have to be consecutive. From Round 4, Austrade counts every year you hold a grant agreement, even a year when you report nil activity or receive nothing.

Tier 3's key markets. For Round 4, Tier 3 applicants had to target at least 1 of 27 economies they'd never sold into: Bangladesh, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Canada, China, Fiji, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Laos, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, the United States and Vietnam. The Tier 3 page (opens in a new tab) says a market where you've already made export sales doesn't count as new.

How the Money Actually Flows

EMDG isn't a cheque on approval. It's a matched grant paid against spending, with a possible advance. According to Austrade's milestone reports and payments (opens in a new tab) page:

1. You commit your own money first. You need at least $20,000 of your own funds for each grant year, shown in a bank account. Money from any other Commonwealth, state, territory or council program can't count toward your share.
2. You may get $20,000 upfront. If your agreement includes an initial payment, it arrives at the start of the grant year, subject to Austrade's risk assessment. For 2026-27, initial payments also depended on Austrade accepting your 2025-26 milestone report.
3. You spend at least double the grant. The grant covers up to 50% of eligible spending. Spend $160,000 on eligible Tier 3 activity and you can receive the $80,000 maximum. Spend less than $40,000 in a year and you get nothing for that year.
4. You report before 15 June. You submit one milestone report per year with invoices and proof of payment, and Austrade pays the balance after assessing it. If you took the $20,000 advance and didn't spend it, you repay it or it's offset against a later payment.

The cash-flow gap is real. As at 13 October 2026, Austrade reports $63.8 million in initial and milestone payments to 1,726 grantees for 2025-26, and $16.1 million in initial payments to 804 grantees for 2026-27. The same page says most 2025-26 reports arrived in the final weeks of June and Austrade is "working through a high volume of assessments". Plan as if the balance arrives months after you've spent it.

What you can spend it on. Eligible categories are an overseas representative, short overseas trips for export promotion, consultants doing research or promotion, domestic trips to meet foreign buyers, foreign buyer visits, soliciting business overseas, free samples, export promotional material, intellectual property rights, export training for Tier 1 businesses and approved training delivered by representative bodies.

What you can't. According to the Round 4 guidelines, capital expenses, anything relating to trade with New Zealand, sales-linked commissions and normal staff or director remuneration (for travel, consultant and buyer-visit categories) aren't eligible. Only economy airfares count, and travel costs for meals, accommodation, ground transport and incidentals are a fixed $350 per day.

Who Got Round 4 EMDG Grants: Grantsights Analysis

Round 4 funded fewer businesses than Round 1 but with much bigger grants. According to the Australian Government's grant award register, GrantConnect, Austrade has published 2,238 Round 4 agreements under GO7108 and GO7109. Grantsights analysis of those records found they're worth $213.1 million in total, and Grantsights compared that with Austrade's own figure of $212.4 million committed to 2,199 grantees at 31 August 2026: the two line up.

Grantsights analysis of the GrantConnect grant award search for "Export Market Development", downloaded 30 October 2026, Austrade records under GO7108 and GO7109 (published 13 February 2025 to 17 March 2026). Values are 2-year agreement totals. Fifty business records carried a $0 value after variation, which usually means a terminated or withdrawn agreement.

The values cluster at tier ceilings. A $160,000 agreement matches 2 years at the Tier 3 maximum, $100,000 matches 2 years at the Tier 2 maximum and $60,000 matches 2 years at Tier 1, so many grantees asked for the most they could get. By size band, 517 business agreements were $40,000 to $60,000, 1,033 were above $60,000 and up to $100,000, and 485 were above $100,000.

Round 4 versus earlier rounds. The same GrantConnect download shows how far grant sizes moved. Round 2 (GO5643, 2,551 records) had a median agreement value of $36,000, and Round 3 (GO6087, 2,062 records) had a median of $30,000. Austrade's own figures say the average annual grant rose from $24,000 in Rounds 1 to 3 to $53,000 in Round 4.

By tier, according to Austrade's Round 4 key statistics at 31 August 2026:

By industry, Services and Technology took 800 agreements (36.4%), Consumer (Advisory) 397 (18.1%), Food and Agriculture 309 (14.1%), Advanced Manufacturing 232 (10.6%) and Education 211 (9.6%). Resources and Energy had just 7. Neither Austrade nor GrantConnect publishes a breakdown by state.

Target markets. The United States led, with 1,537 grantees (70%) planning to export there, followed by the United Kingdom (1,250), Canada (884), Singapore (817) and China (654).

Named recipients. Representative bodies are easy to spot in the records. For example, Austmine received a $100,000 agreement (GA427682), and Wine Australia received a $100,000 agreement (GA426776), the Export Council of Australia $100,000 (GA426786), the Australian Macadamia Society $100,000 (GA443337), the Hunter Valley Wine and Tourism Association $42,975 (GA427150) and Tourism Central Australia $30,000 (GA473748). Among businesses at the $160,000 two-year maximum were Marketboomer Pty Ltd (GA472704), Fresche Bioscience Pty Ltd (GA477889), Tiny Tribe Pty Ltd (GA427173) and Lone Star Marine Pty Ltd (GA493368). Each GA number links to a full record on GrantConnect.

What Austrade Doesn't Tell You

Austrade's pages explain the rules well, but several facts only show up in its statistics and the 2026 review.

Tier 2 sold out in three and a half hours. According to the EMDG Independent Review 2026, Tier 2 opened at 10 am AEDT on 12 November 2024 and closed at 1:30 pm the same day, because Round 4 funded applications in the order they arrived. Tiers 1 and 3 stayed open until 20 December 2024. Some businesses that missed Tier 2 applied for another tier instead. A common mistake is assuming a round open for weeks will stay open for your tier.

42% of applications were first rejected. According to the EMDG Independent Review report, 1,130 of 2,693 applications were initially deemed ineligible, largely because assessors weren't allowed to contact applicants to fix gaps. Austrade's statistics page shows 813 internal reviews lodged and 721 overturned to eligible, with 92 rejections upheld. The top 5 reasons were bank statements not showing the $20,000 capacity to spend (285), inadequate evidence of tax compliance (232), no export invoices (228), missing or wrong-year financial statements (104) and attachments that wouldn't open (77). Every one of those is a paperwork failure, not a judgement on the business.

Agents had a higher success rate. Grant agents lodged 62% of Round 4 applications. The review reports 91% of agent-lodged applications reached a grant agreement, against 69% of self-lodged ones. Austrade's rules treat both the same, so the gap is about getting the documents right first time. An agent isn't required, and a red flag is any agent who promises a grant or charges a large fee before a round even opens.

The program got smaller in total. According to the Independent Review report, in May 2023 the government cut the EMDG budget from $157.9 million to $110 million a year from 2025-26. Five per cent goes to administration, leaving $104.5 million a year for grants. Bigger grants from a smaller pot means fewer winners: Round 1 had 5,384 applications, and every eligible applicant got a grant, at an average of $23,825.

Approved doesn't mean every expense will be paid. Stakeholders told the review that some activities accepted at application were ruled ineligible at the milestone stage, after the money was spent. Keep invoices and proof of payment for every line, and check each cost against the guidelines before you commit.

The next round may not look like Round 4. The review's 29 recommendations include moving to merit-based selection (Recommendation 1), 2 business tiers instead of 3 (Recommendation 3), annual rounds with annual agreements (Recommendation 6), revisiting the detailed plan to market (Recommendation 7) and reviewing the 15 June milestone deadline (Recommendation 8). None had been adopted on 30 October 2026. Don't assume first-come, first-served will return.

Who Shouldn't Apply (and Better Routes)

EMDG suits an established business with real export intent and spare cash. Honestly, it's not worth the paperwork for a business that can't spend $40,000 a year on export marketing. It's a poor fit if you:

• Have traded under your ABN for less than 2 years. You're ineligible regardless of turnover. A restructure that creates a new ABN restarts the clock.
• Can't fund $40,000 of export marketing a year. The grant is half of eligible spending, paid mostly after you spend. If $20,000 of your own money isn't sitting in the bank, Round 4 rules would rule you out.
• Sell mainly to New Zealand. Expenses relating to New Zealand trade aren't eligible.
• Need money for equipment or product development. EMDG doesn't fund capital costs. If you're doing experimental development, the R&D Tax Incentive is a tax offset, not a grant; see the R&D Tax Incentive guide.
• Have used up your years. Two years of Tier 1 or 8 years of EMDG in total ends your eligibility for that tier or the program.

State programs sometimes fill the gap for smaller exporters. The Victoria small business grants guide, the Queensland small business grants guide and the Western Australia small business grants guide cover what's open in each state. Austrade's free Go Global Toolkit (opens in a new tab) and its Export Readiness Test are useful whatever you decide.

How to Prepare for the Next EMDG Round

Round 4 rewarded businesses that were ready on day 1. Here's a hypothetical example, not a real business: a Melbourne skincare brand with $2.4 million turnover, 6 years on its ABN and existing sales in Singapore wants to enter Japan. Under Round 4 rules it would fit Tier 3. To claim the $80,000 maximum it would need $160,000 of eligible spending in the year, such as a Tokyo trade fair, samples, a Japanese-language catalogue and an in-market consultant, with at least $20,000 of its own money in the bank at application.

What to do in the 10 steps before a round opens:

1. Subscribe to the EMDG Update newsletter from Austrade's newsletters page so you hear about Round 5 the day it's announced.
2. Check your ABN history. Confirm on the Australian Business Register that you've traded under the same ABN for at least 2 years.
3. Lodge your tax returns and BAS on time. Tax compliance over the current and previous 2 income years was an eligibility test, and the second most common Round 4 rejection reason.
4. Get last year's financial statements ready for the exact financial year the guidelines name. Round 4 used 2023-24 turnover.
5. Keep $20,000 visible in a business bank account and a statement that shows it.
6. Collect export invoices if you're aiming for Tier 2 or 3. Tier 1 needs the opposite: no previous exports.
7. Do the Export Readiness Test (about 30 minutes, free) if you're new to exporting.
8. Write your own plan to market. Austrade rejects copied or generic plans.
9. Save attachments as standard PDFs and open each one before uploading. Seventy-seven Round 4 applications failed on attachments assessors couldn't open.
10. Set up your digital identity login and RAM access for the business. The Round 4 guidelines say the portal uses the Australian Government Digital Identity System (they name myGovID linked in the Relationship Authorisation Manager) and that Austrade can't fix login problems.

If Austrade rules you ineligible, you have review rights. Ask for an internal review and supply the missing evidence. In Round 4, 721 of 813 internal reviews ended with an eligible outcome.

Scams and Fraud Warnings

EMDG attracts paid intermediaries and occasional fraud. Austrade runs an EMDG Fraud Hotline on free call 1800 006 352, according to its report fraud (opens in a new tab) page. GrantConnect also warns of phishing emails impersonating it. Grantsights is an independent guide, isn't part of Austrade and doesn't take applications or ask for personal or bank details. Apply only through the EMDG online portal linked from austrade.gov.au.

Sources Checked

All pages read on 30 October 2026.

• Austrade, Export Market Development Grants (opens in a new tab), Apply for a grant (opens in a new tab) and How we assess applications (opens in a new tab)
• Austrade, Eligibility criteria and grant amounts (opens in a new tab), Tier 1 (opens in a new tab), Tier 2 (opens in a new tab) and Tier 3 (opens in a new tab)
• Austrade, Guidelines and legislation (opens in a new tab), including the Round 4 EMDG Grant Guidelines 2025-26, 2026-27 (DOCX)
• Austrade, What's changed in the EMDG program (opens in a new tab) and Milestone reports and payments (opens in a new tab)
• Austrade, Round 4 key statistics (opens in a new tab) and Reviews, research, data and analysis (opens in a new tab)
• Austrade, Export Market Development Grants Independent Review 2026 (opens in a new tab) (published 2 July 2026) and Independent Review of the EMDG program (opens in a new tab)
• Austrade, Report EMDG fraud (opens in a new tab)
• Federal Register of Legislation, Export Market Development Grants Act 1997 (opens in a new tab), Export Market Development Grants Rules 2021 (opens in a new tab) and Export Market Development Grants Amendment Rules 2024 (opens in a new tab)
• GrantConnect, Grant Award search (opens in a new tab) (keyword "Export Market Development", results downloaded 30 October 2026)