NTT hosted its “Pitch Day” startup pitch contest in Jakarta, Indonesia for the second consecutive year as part of the NTT Startup Challenge, attracting a record 1,200 applications from startups across Southeast Asia, South Korea, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Ten finalists presented, with HeyMax (Singapore) winning first place, followed by Klleon (South Korea) and Hydroleap (Singapore). On the same day, NTT also announced the launch of Synexia Ventures, its first Southeast Asia-focused startup investment fund, aimed at accelerating open innovation and new business creation between NTT Group and regional startups.