San Francisco
Website
Founded: 2010
Employees: 5
Revenue 2010: $0
Revenue 2011 (projected): $200,000
From left to right: Ajay Godhwani, Gautam Godhwani, and Anil Godhwani

Released in March as an iPad app that speaks typed sentences and words for users who are unable to talk, Verbally has been among the most downloaded free apps for the past few months in iTunes’s medical category. Verbally’s backers, brothers Anil and Gautam Godhwani and their cousin, Ajay Godhwani, are planning to release a more powerful $100 version by early July, though they say the free version will remain free. They’re also working on an assistive app for children for release by yearend. Having co-founded two venture-backed startups, AtWeb (acquired by Netscape for $95 million in 1998) and job site Simply Hired, and nonprofit India Community Center in San Jose, Anil says he structured Intuary, the software firm behind the app, as a social venture to make it easier to raise money and attract talent. While other apps and devices exist, the team says the potential market is big. "It’s definitely a fairly large challenge—not just for folks with ALS [amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; also known as Lou Gehrig's disease] but stroke and so many other illnesses. If you look worldwide, millions of people who need something like this," says Anil. He estimates Intuary will have $500,000 to $1 million in revenue in 2012. —NL

(Corrects spelling of company name.)