Grammarly announced on Tuesday that it is acquiring productivity startup Coda. As part of the deal, Shishir Mehrotra, CEO and co-founder of Coda, will become Grammarly’s new CEO. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
The acquisition will add Coda’s AI tools and products, turning Grammarly’s AI assistant into an “AI productivity platform,” the company said. The deal will give Grammarly customers access to new features, including generative AI chat and a productivity suite, to help them work more efficiently.
Grammarly’s current CEO, Rahul Roy Choudhury, announced in a statement that he would be stepping down from his role to become an advisor to Mehrotra.
Mehrotra, a 25-year tech veteran who previously served as chief product officer and chief technology officer at YouTube, outlined his vision for Grammarly in the following blog post: Make AI assistants smarter and more helpful.
“What if your assistant not only gave you amazing suggestions and improvements based on what you read today, but also had permission-based connections to all your other systems (email, docs, CRM, project trackers, etc.)?” Mehrotra wrote.
Additionally, Coda’s core product, Coda Docs, has been updated with the Grammarly Assistant. “In the long term, we plan to combine the strengths of Coda and Grammarly,” Mehrotra wrote. “We combine business knowledge, AI-generated chat capabilities, a full productivity suite, and hundreds of agents to help you work smarter. We want to redefine productivity in the AI era.”
Founded in 2009, Grammarly has 40 million active users and is valued at $13 billion. Coda was valued at $1.4 billion after a Series D funding round in 2021. As AI assistants become more accessible, Grammarly’s acquisition of Coda puts it in a better position to compete with companies developing AI tools for writing and productivity.
