Grammarly Names New CEO and Acquires Productivity Startup Coda

Grammarly Inc., an artificial intelligence-powered writing aid software, is purchasing productivity company Coda, and gets a new CEO.

Grammarly announced the acquisition of Coda, a productivity startup, according to a statement issued by the two companies on Tuesday. As part of the acquisition, Shishir Mehrotra, CEO and co-founder of Coda, will take over as CEO of Grammarly. Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, Grammarly’s current chief executive, will continue on the board.

The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

The acquisition will help Grammarly’s AI assistant become an “AI productivity platform” by incorporating Coda’s AI tools and solutions, according to the business. Grammarly clients will gain access to new features such as generative AI chat and a productivity package, allowing them to work more efficiently.

The acquisition also comes just a few months after Grammarly engaged new chief financial and technology officers in preparation for a public stock offering, Bloomberg previously reported. Mehrotra, the new CEO, stated that his goal is to develop a long-lasting company, and becoming public is a step in that direction.

Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, Grammarly’s current CEO, announced in a statement that he will step down and work as an adviser to Mehrotra.

Mehrotra, a 25-year industry veteran who formerly served as YouTube’s chief product officer and chief technology officer, highlighted his goals for Grammarly in a blog post: to make the AI assistant increasingly smarter and more useful.

Mehrotra also stated in a blog post that the two businesses will work together to combine Coda Docs and Grammarly Assistant. “Imagine if the Assistant not only gave amazing suggestions and refinements based on the writing it sees today but also had permission-aware connections into all of your other systems (from your email to docs to CRM to project trackers and more).”

Mehrotra formerly worked as YouTube’s chief product officer and chief technical officer. He and Chowdhury previously worked together at Google.

Mehrotra stated that the company’s long-term objectives include “weaving the best of Coda and Grammarly together.” It will bring together your corporate knowledge, generative AI chat features, a full productivity suite, and hundreds of agents to help you work smarter.

“Imagine if the Assistant not only gave amazing suggestions and refinements based on the writing it sees today but also had permission-aware connections into all of your other systems (from your email to docs to CRM to project trackers and more),” says Mehrotra.

Furthermore, Coda Docs, Coda’s core product, will be enhanced with the Grammarly Assistant.

“In the longer term, we plan to weave the best of Coda and Grammarly together,” Mehrotra said in a piece. “It will bring together your corporate knowledge, generative AI chat features, a complete productivity package, and hundreds of agents to help you work smarter. “We want to redefine productivity for the AI era.”

Grammarly, founded in 2009, has 40 million active users and a valuation of $13 billion. Coda was valued at $1.4 billion during its Series D funding round in 2021.

As AI assistants become more widely available, Grammarly’s acquisition of Coda will position it to compete with startups developing AI aids for writing and productivity.

This year, Grammarly will place a greater emphasis on artificial intelligence. Grammarly co-founder Alex Shevchenko stated in an interview that this acquisition is another step in that direction.

The firm already provides sophisticated AI writing assistance, and Coda creates AI-powered collaboration and productivity tools. Grammarly plans to produce more solutions to assist with office activities by extracting information from customer relationship management systems or emails after acquiring Coda and its technologies. It will be driven by Coda’s product, Coda Brain, which collects data from several platforms.

Grammarly currently interfaces with other applications, but it will also incorporate Coda’s flagship product, Coda Docs, into its document creation tool for users.

“We have a massive opportunity to reinvent productivity as we know it, and Grammarly and Coda can pursue that vision faster together,” Mehrotra told reporters.

The industry is saturated, with Apple Inc. and other businesses incorporating similar writing-assistant technologies into their platforms. Grammarly’s collaboration with Coda will pit it against the several productivity startups and huge tech companies developing AI agents for the office.

40 million people use Grammarly’s products every day. Coda will help the company develop its corporate customer base. Grammarly’s users include Zoom Communications Inc., Salesforce Inc., Ford Motor Co., and Chevron Corporation.