Grammarly to acquire AI productivity tool maker Coda, Shishir Mehrotra to become CEO

Grammarly announced on Tuesday, December 17, that it would be acquiring the productivity startup Coda.

The financial terms of the Grammarly-Coda deal were not disclosed.

Both use AI to different ends, with the Grammarly writing assistant setup apparently looking to augment itself using Coda’s Docs and Brain offerings, which support an AI-powered productivity suite that organizations use to help them work.

According to TechCrunch, Grammarly has 40 million active users and is valued at $13 billion, while Coda was valued at $1.4 billion back in 2021 after a Series D fundraising round.

In a press statement, Grammarly co-founder Alex Shevchenko called the Coda acquisition “a big step toward achieving our vision of a world where humans and AI work together everywhere work happens.”

Further, a post by current Grammarly CEO Rahul Roy-Chowdhury said the aim of the acquisition is to “bring Coda’s intelligence and flexibility into the Grammarly experience to supercharge user productivity.”

That said, Chowdhury also announced he was stepping down as CEO of Grammarly. Coda co-founder and CEO Shishir Mehrotra will take over the post.

In a separate statement on the Coda blog, Mehotra said the goal is to make the Grammarly assistant “even ‘smarter’ and ‘more helpful’ by adding the context of Coda Brain,” alongside unifying Coda Docs and the Grammarly Assistant for users’ benefit.

“We have a massive opportunity to reinvent productivity as we know it, and Grammarly and Coda can pursue that vision faster together,” Mehrotra meanwhile said in a press statement announcing the team-up.

“Grammarly is a beloved software product used by millions of people every day. Combining Grammarly’s trusted AI assistant with the intelligence and flexibility of Coda can give our customers the productivity gains they’re looking for across their entire organization,” Mehotra added. – Rappler.com