Microsoft Accelerator for Windows Azure publishes 10 finalists

Today, I am pleased to announce the 10 finalists for Windows Azure by TechStars-driven Microsoft accelerator. These startups will launch a 3-month project that will use Windows Azure to develop new products and businesses.

The response to this project was great, and we received nearly 600 applications from entrepreneurs in 69 countries across the world, including retailing, tourism, entertainment, finance, real estate and so on. With so many creative and magical teams, this makes the selection process extremely difficult. We have chosen 10 shortlisted projects based on their experience, qualifications, and the idea of creating innovative operations in the cloud.

Windows Azure this fall includes:

advertory– Berlin, Germany. Advertory helps local businesses raise revenue and build customer loyalty. appetas– Seattle, WA. Appetas's mission is that restaurants look as beautiful as online! bagsup– Australia, Sydney. Find a good place from someone you trust. embarke– California, Santiago. Embarke allows developers and businesses to integrate with any human communication channel (Facebook, email, SMS, Twitter) without learning specific content, writing code, or spending time on any of them. fanzo– Seattle, WA. Fanzo put sports fans in focus. Find other fans, show off your fanswagger, and get rewarded for your passion. metricshub– Washington, Bellevue. A service provides cloud monitoring, event detection and precompilation workflow, correcting common ask mobilligy– of Washington State Bellevue. Mobilligy radically changes the way people pay their bills, providing instant payment support for mobile devices through convenience and security. Realty mogul– Los Angeles, California. Realty Mogul is a platform for the financing of Real estate, where accredited investors conduct joint ventures, professional private real estate companies and their management teams for management and eventual resale. staq– California State San Francisco. API for backend services. socedo– Washington, Bellevue. A simple and effective web application for generating opportunity and relationship management on Twitter.

Each start-up will be hosted in Seattle, guided by entrepreneurs and investors as well as leaders from Windows Azure and other organizations in Microsoft. The team will use the first month to conceive and improve their business concepts from their mentors or Microsoft customers, followed by 2 months of design and development. They will showcase their results to investors and Microsoft partners in mid-January.

We are really looking forward to seeing their business develop. These teams show amazing energy, passion, and creativity, and they are ready to show the world all the possibilities of Windows Azure.

Thank you

Scott