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SUCCESS CASE
How a Telco SaaS Company Secured S$7M+ for Multi-Year Productisation R&D
RIC supported a Singapore-headquartered telco technology company through a complex EDG project involving seven R&D workstreams, commercialisation planning, claims, and technical substantiation.
CATEGORY
R&D and Innovation
CLIENT TYPE
Telco technology / SaaS platform
GRANT TYPE
Enterprise Development Grant support
FUNDING SECURED
Above S$7 million
About the Client and Project
Client Profile
The client is a Singapore-headquartered telco technology company operating a cloud-native vertical telco SaaS platform. Its business supports digital telecom operators and commercialisation partners seeking to launch, manage, and scale modern mobile services. The company had a strong technology base, regional growth potential, and an R&D-heavy product roadmap involving multiple engineering, product, UI / UX, and development teams across a multi-year programme.
Project Nature
The project involved the productisation and commercialisation of a vertical telco SaaS platform for use by a major overseas digital telecom partner. The programme ran across seven major R&D workstreams covering technical novelty, platform capability development, manpower resourcing, pricing, competitive analysis, commercialisation planning, and product deployment. Rather than a narrow software enhancement project, this was a multi-year R&D programme requiring coordination across different internal product owners and technical teams to turn the company’s existing technology base into a scalable commercial platform for international telecom use cases.
Funding Objective and Challenge
Funding Objective
The funding objective was to support a major Enterprise Development Grant project focused on vertical telco SaaS productisation. The grant helped fund qualifying R&D activities linked to platform development, technical workstreams, manpower resourcing, and commercialisation-related project costs. The approved grant quantum was above S$7 million, reflecting the scale and complexity of the programme. The funding supported the company’s effort to develop a commercially deployable platform with international market relevance.
The Challenge
The complexity was not just in the application. The project involved seven R&D workstreams, each owned by different engineering, product, UI / UX, and development teams. RIC had to understand the technical novelty, commercial viability, development roadmap, manpower resourcing, and cost basis for each sub-scope, then translate these into a coherent grant narrative and claims structure. Over the three-year project period, several internal project leads changed or left the company, creating continuity risks around approved scope, deliverables, evidence requirements, and final claim substantiation.
How RIC Supported the Client
IC supported the client across the full grant lifecycle, from project scoping and application submission through multiple claim tranches and complex final claim substantiation.
RIC’s support included:
• Scoping seven R&D workstreams with the client’s product and engineering teams.
• Structuring the grant narrative around technical novelty, commercialisation potential, manpower resourcing, cost basis, and international market relevance.
• Supporting the application for a large-scale Enterprise Development Grant project.
• Coordinating with multiple internal stakeholders across engineering, product, UI / UX, and development teams.
• Helping the client maintain continuity when project owners changed during the three-year programme.
• Clarifying legacy project context, approved scope, outstanding deliverables, and required development evidence for new stakeholders.
• Supporting claim preparation by linking R&D deliverables to technical headcount contributions and approved project scope.
• Helping ensure that final technical and manpower substantiation remained aligned with the grant requirements.
Outcome
FUNDING SECURED
Above S$7 million
The client secured above S$7 million in Enterprise Development Grant support for its multi-year telco SaaS R&D programme. RIC also supported the client through claims and reimbursement requirements across the project lifecycle. The resulting platform capabilities supported overseas commercialisation with a major Japanese digital telecom partner and helped the client scale its telco SaaS model internationally.
What This Means for Similar Companies
For technology companies running large R&D programmes, the real grant challenge often starts after approval. Multi-year projects can face staff changes, shifting priorities, evolving technical scopes, and heavy claim documentation requirements. A strong grant strategy must therefore cover not only the initial application, but also project continuity, evidence discipline, cost substantiation, and reimbursement readiness. This case is especially relevant for Singapore-based technology companies with proprietary platforms, international commercialisation plans, and complex product roadmaps requiring serious funding architecture.
