NTT to Hold 'NTT Startup Challenge' Program for Third Consecutive Year to Promote Collaboration with Overseas Startups

Key Points: The 'NTT Startup Challenge,' a program to promote collaboration with startups overseas that began in 2024, will be joined by 15 NTT Group companies in 2026, with NTT DATA at the center. The 2025 Pitch Day saw applications from approximately 1,200 startups from Southeast Asia interested in collaborating with the NTT Group. The recommendation-based matching program, Partnership Day, received recommendations for about 150 startups from partner companies, leading to collaborations with various NTT Group companies. For 2026, the Pitch Day will expand its target regions to include Australia and India, in addition to Southeast Asia, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. The Partnership Day will be co-hosted with NTT DATA, holding recommendation-based matching that also addresses the challenges of NTT DATA's clients and NTT DATA itself.

NTT Corporation will host the 'NTT Startup Challenge,' a startup collaboration promotion program by the NTT Group, for the third consecutive year, following 2024 and 2025. NTT DATA, Inc., which oversees NTT DATA's overseas business, will join the program for the first time, making it a co-hosted event with a total of 15 companies. The NTT Startup Challenge Partnership Day will be jointly held by NTT and NTT DATA. External participants, continuing from 2025, will include prominent venture capitals from the region and Professor AIE Iriyama of Waseda University, who will serve as a Keynote Speaker and a judge for the Pitch Contest. Through this program, the NTT Group will accelerate collaboration with overseas startup ecosystems, including those in Asia, and the creation of new businesses.

1. Background In 2024, the NTT Group launched the 'NTT Startup Challenge,' its first group-wide joint collaboration promotion program, to drive the creation of new businesses through partnerships with overseas startups. Through these efforts, it has fostered collaborations with startups mainly in Southeast Asia.

2. The 'NTT Startup Challenge' Program (1) Overview A collaboration promotion program aimed at creating new businesses with overseas startup ecosystems. In 2026, the program aims to solve broader social issues by further expanding its area, adding Australia and India to the target countries. NTT DATA, which has extensive overseas assets (ICT infrastructure, customer base, innovation centers, etc.), will fully participate to expand the assets offered by the NTT Group to the startup ecosystem. Furthermore, by utilizing 'Synexia Ventures,' a CVC fund established in conjunction with the program in December 2025, the program aims to further contribute to the ecosystem and improve the feasibility and certainty of open innovation.

(2) Program Content Centered around NTT's Global Business Division, the program host, the following activities will be conducted: - Hosting Partnership Day, a business meeting event (strategic partner recommendation-based power matching) for middle-stage and later startups and local companies, to create new businesses with the NTT Group. - Hosting Pitch Day, which invites startups from across the APAC & India region, without restrictions on sector or growth stage. - Implementing an Overseas New Business Advisory Program for the NTT Group in collaboration with VCs. - Utilizing the program-linked CVC 'Synexia Ventures' to consider long-term partnerships, including investments, in addition to collaborations.

(3) Role of Each Company - NTT: Program planning and management. - NTT Group Companies: Consider collaborations with startups and promote new business development based on their own focus areas and available assets.

(4) Main Collaboration Achievements to Date Over 60 initiatives, including investments and collaborations, are in progress through this program. - Commercial deployment in Japan by NTT Advanced Technology of technology from Transcelestial, a company invested in through the CVC, began in February 2026. - The first investment through the CVC 'Synexia Ventures', established in December 2025, was made in April 2026.