SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, Aug 01, 2011 – Amazon Web Services LLC (AWS), an Amazon.com company, today announced the call for entries to the fifth annual AWS Start-Up Challenge, a contest to recognize innovative start-ups that are built on AWS’s cloud computing platform.
AWS has expanded the Start-Up Challenge worldwide and will choose a total of 15 regional semi-finalists from the Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. From among the regional semi-finalists, global finalists will be chosen and awarded a package of $10,000 in AWS credits and a trip to attend the final round of judging and awards ceremony. The global grand prize winner will be awarded with $50,000 in cash and $50,000 in AWS credits, AWS premium support services for one year and technical mentorship from Amazon Web Services for one year, as well as a possible investment offer from Amazon. All eligible contestants will receive $25 in AWS service credits to kick-start the process of building their businesses on AWS. To learn more about the AWS Start-Up Challenge, visit http://aws.amazon.com/startupchallenge .
AWS enables start-ups to cost-effectively and quickly innovate and build the infrastructure required to run their businesses. AWS Start-Up Challenge entries will be judged on their implementation of AWS solutions; originality and creativity of the business; likelihood of long-term success and scalability; and how well the business addresses a need in the marketplace. Entries must be received no later than midnight US Pacific Time on October 2, 2011. Regional semi-finalists and global finalists will be announced in November. At the final AWS Start-Up Challenge event in November, finalists will present their businesses to a panel of AWS executives, venture capitalists and an audience of technology industry leaders. The final event will be streamed live worldwide…
Eligible contestants must have generated no more than $10 million in annual revenue and no more than $10 million in outside funding. Start-ups submitted for the contest must use the cloud computing solutions offered by AWS, such as Amazon Elastic Cloud Compute (Amazon EC2) or Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3). A complete description of the prizes and contest rules can be found at http://aws.amazon.com/startupchallenge.