The AWS Startup Challenge is almost over and 7 startups are left. AWS is letting the people vote on which startup should win. The votes and results of this poll will be used by the judges when they decide who will be crowned the king of AWS startups. Justin.tv is currently in the lead of the poll which is no surprise. Even though I would love for JTV to win I personally think that having a poll influence the judges decision is a bad idea. Justin and crew have an unfair advantage because of the social aspects of the site. One of the startups that I’m interested in learning more about is Brainscape. It is just amazing what can be done with technology.
Brainscape, a product of the Neuroinformatics Research Group, is an engine for measuring the networks in the brain. Researchers are using Brainscape to discover new brain networks and measure the effects of new drugs in clinical trials. Soon, doctors will be using Brainscape to diagnose disease and aid in treatment. The team at the Neuroinformatics Research Group is building their tools entirely on Amazon Web Services to meet their computing and storage needs.
So what does the winner of this challenge get? Well the grand prize winner will receive $50,000 in cash, $50,000 in AWS credits, and an investment offer from Amazon. Looks like Justin will soon have more drinking money. I’m not sure on what the prizes are for 2nd and 3rd though but you can bet it will most likely be some AWS credits. The poll currently has Justin.tv in the lead with 39% of the vote and a tie for 2nd place with both Ooyala and Milemeter having 20% of the vote. Each company also has a little video showcasing what their startup is about and how they are using AWS. You still have time to vote. Voting ends on December 6th. So if you haven’t voted please do at
http://developer.amazonwebservices.com/connect/amazon_startupchallenge.jsp?
Popularity: 19%
