After receiving 600 applications, Microsoft this morning named 10 startups to participate in its Windows Azure Accelerator, a three-month program focused on creating new business apps and building new companies on Microsoft’s cloud computing platform and related technologies.

The accelerator is a partnership with TechStars, and a follow-up to the similar Kinect Accelerator program that took place earlier this year. Several of the startups are from the Seattle region, but others will be coming from overseas.

Via the blog of Microsoft exec Scott Guthrie, here are the 10 startups chosen for the program, along with each company’s description of what it does …

  • Advertory – Berlin, Germany. Advertory helps local businesses increase revenue and build customer loyalty.
  • Appetas  Seattle, WA. Appetas’ mission is to make restaurants look as beautiful online as they do on the plate!
  • BagsUp – Sydney, Australia. Find great places from people you trust.
  • Embarke – San Diego, CA. Embarke allows developers and companies the ability to integrate with any human communication channel (Facebook, Email, Text Message, Twitter) without having to learn the specifics, write code, or spend time on any of them.
  • Fanzo – Seattle, WA. Fanzo puts sports fans in the spotlight. Find other fans, show off your fanswagger and get rewarded for your passion.
  • MetricsHub – Bellevue, WA. A service providing cloud monitoring with incident detection and prebuilt workflows for remedying common problems.
  • Mobilligy – Bellevue, WA. Mobilligy revolutionizes how people pay their bills by bringing convenient, secure, and instant bill payment support to mobile devices.
  • Realty Mogul – Los Angeles, CA. Realty Mogul is a crowdfunding platform for real estate where accredited investors pool capital and invest in properties that are acquired, managed and eventually resold by professional private real estate companies and their management teams.
  • Staq – San Francisco, CA. Back-end as a service for APIs.
  • Socedo – Bellevue, WA. A simple and effective web application for lead generation and relationship management on Twitter.

The program will run from October through December in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood, concluding with a demo day where the startups will pitch to prospective investors. The program is known formally as the Microsoft Accelerator for Windows Azure, powered by TechStars.

Note: Descriptions of Socedo and Staq corrected since original post.

Like what you're reading? Subscribe to GeekWire's free newsletters to catch every headline

Job Listings on GeekWork

Find more jobs on GeekWork. Employers, post a job here.