Fifth Annual Amazon Web Services "Start-Up Challenge" Begins Today for Start-Ups Worldwide

Amazon Web Services LLC (AWS), an Amazon.com company (NASDAQ: AMZN), 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.

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).

To learn more about the AWS Start-Up Challenge, please visit http://aws.amazon.com/startupchallenge

Amazon Web Services(AWS) is exclusive cloud computing sponsor for TechSparks 2011. Please register to attend the TechSparks 2011 Grand Finale here.