NTT will hold the NTT Group’s startup collaboration promotion program “NTT Startup Challenge” again this year, following last year’s event.
The purpose of this program is to promote the NTT Group’s startup collaboration overseas. Originally, the program was held independently by NTT Communications (NTT Com) since 2017, but last year, NTT launched “NTT Startup Challenge” as the first group-wide collaboration promotion program.

This year, the pitch contest “NTT Startup Challenge Pitch Day” will be held in Jakarta on Tuesday, November 11th. The biggest feature is that it accepts applications from all stages and sectors, taking advantage of the NTT Group’s vast business domain. Furthermore, the scope of possible collaborations has been expanded by adding South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong to the list of eligible countries in addition to Southeast Asia.
Last year, approximately 700 startups from Southeast Asia applied. The top winning companies are considering collaborations with NTT Group companies. Of the 700 companies, 54% were from IT/software, with applications from a variety of industries including retail, agritech, and healthcare. 70% were B2C and 30% were B2B. The top countries for applications were Indonesia (56%), followed by Malaysia (17%) and Singapore (9%).
Last year, eight companies from the NTT Group participated (NTT East, NTT West, NTT Field Techno, NTT Docomo Global, NTT Com, NTT Data, NTT Docomo Ventures, and NTT Finance), and this year five more companies will join (NTT Comware, NTT Advanced Technology, NTT Technocross, NTT Precision Medicine, and NTTVC).

This year, a new “Partnership Day” will be held in Singapore on Friday, September 12th. This is a matching program with NTT Group companies based on recommendations from local companies.
Yasutaka Kinebuchi, general manager of NTT Global Business Division, explains, “The pitch contest is mostly for startups in the early stages. On the other hand, the NTT Group aims for mid- to long-term collaboration and investment from CVCs. We felt the need for a method to respond in the short term to the requests of NTT Group companies who want to enter the Southeast Asian market immediately, so we decided to add a recommendation-based matching program.”
Specifically, within the NTT Group, companies that want to develop new businesses in Southeast Asia become challenge owners and set challenges. Partner companies are asked to recommend startups and local companies that can solve those challenges.
As an internal initiative of the NTT Group, “VC Advisory” has also been launched since April this year. This is a consulting program aimed at improving the new business development capabilities of NTT Group companies overseas. NTT Holdings is working with an independent VC in Singapore to provide the program to NTT Group companies.
Kinebuchi said, “We have received positive feedback from stakeholders in the Southeast Asian startup ecosystem about the Startup Collaboration Promotion Program. In addition, NTT Group companies have shown strong enthusiasm for developing new businesses in Southeast Asia”.

https://www.ntt-startupchallenge.com/

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