The Semi-Finalists of the 2012 Amazon WS Start-Up Challenge: Stakes and Opportunities around the best Startups

 Pending the AWS Global Start-Up Challenge Finale Celebration January 24, 2013, Amazon Web Service has release the Semi-Finalists of the 2012 AWS Start-Up Challenge. Unfortunately  the  African participants from Ghana and Malawi have not been retained. However, we have discovered some gorgeous Startups with great potential. Amazon Web Service announced having received about 2,500 applications from every state in the US and from 84 other countries including Iceland, Ghana, Bahrain, Nepal, Cambodia, and Malawi. 24 among them have been chosen including: Smilu from California, USA: Smilu is developing ICON: Arena, a head to head sports battle game available on iOS, Windows, and Android powered devices. It is supported by Smilu's device agnostic platform, which deploys games live across formerly incompatible mobile devices. PlayCanvas from United Kingdom aims to be the number one online destination for creating and playing video games. Playblazer from India provides game developers/studios a configurable API that provides instant access to a comprehensive set of pre-built - data models, components and workflows; that enable rapid development of a game server for social & multiplayer games, accessible from any platform.  Grand Cru from Finland is a Helsinki based game developer. Their inaugural game “The Supernauts” will be ready for launch in the first half of 2013 and is a casual take on the very successful Minecraft style of sandbox and creativity fueled game-play. The game is designed with a tablet first mindset and brings easy and intuitive touch-screen controls to a fully customizable 3D world. The Supernauts will be free-to-play and exclusive to iOS mobile devices. NorthStar from India is an integrated child and school bus tracking and monitoring solution that ensures children's safety and security when they travel to and from school. It can track school buses, vans and other vehicles used to transport students it ensures their safety and security, has the ability to notify parents of their child’s impending arrival at pick up and drop off stops, can monitor unsafe driving and reduce transportation costs by optimizing bus routes. Appy Couple from New York USA is the most magical and stylish way to create and publish your own mobile wedding app (and website). It's private. It's social It's easy. Couples can ensure that guests have everything they could possibly need at their fingertips and stay socially connected, no more patched together solutions of DIY websites, photo sharing apps, social networks and emails: Appy Couple connects the dots and puts it all-together. Poikos from Netherlands is a multiple award-winning computer vision systems house which has developed a revolutionary patent-pending technology for imaging and measuring the body in 3D, using consumer grade hardware such as smartphones, tablets and PCs. GoSquared from United Kingdom is a real-time web analytics platform enables businesses and individuals to improve and adapt their online presence faster. their applications provide a wealth of up-to-the-second metrics that help you gauge exactly how visitors are using and interacting with your application or website, and more importantly, how you can improve and optimize based on this information. Massachusetts, USA TraceLink Business Cloud from Massachusetts USA was developed to help save lives, protect product integrity and to ensure global availability of medicines. The TraceLink Business Cloud connects people, processes and information across the global supply network, improving visibility, traceability and performance from raw material supply and manufacturing down to the consumer. See more here!