Amazon.com caters to startups, largely so that early-stage companies will jump on its Web services platform. One of the ways that the Seattle online retailer has reached out to the startup community over the past six years is through its AWS Global Start-Up Challenge.

And tonight we’re getting word on the winners, chosen from a pool of 2,500 companies from 85 countries. As a result of their wins, each of the companies will receive $50,000 in cash and $50,000 in AWS credits

So, who did Amazon like?

Here’s a quick look at the four winners, which were chosen on “originality and creativity, likelihood of long-term success and scalability, how well the business addresses a need in the marketplace, and implementation of AWS solutions.”

Gaming: Grand Cru, CEO Markus Pasula:

Consumer Apps: LogMyCalls, CEO Jason Wells.

Big Data & High Performance Computing: MortarData, CEO K Young,

Business AppsTraceLink, CEO Shabbir Dahod

In addition to those four grand prize winners, Amazon.com also this year introduced an audience favorite: Poikos of The Netherlands.

The winners were chosen at an event in San Francisco, with the each of the winning teams receiving the “Golden Hammer” award in which they were encouraged to use an actual hammer to destroy a computer server.

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