Grammarly hires a new CEO and purchases productivity company Coda

Grammarly announced on Tuesday that it is acquiring productivity startup Coda. As part of the agreement, Coda’s CEO and co-founder, Shishir Mehrotra, will take over as the new CEO of Grammarly.

The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

This acquisition aims to transform Grammarly’s AI assistant into an "AI productivity platform" by integrating Coda’s AI tools and products. Grammarly customers will gain access to new features, such as generative AI chat and a productivity suite designed to enhance efficiency in their work.

Grammarly’s current CEO, Rahul Roy-Chowdhury, stated that he is stepping down and will support Mehrotra as an adviser.

Mehrotra, a 25-year tech industry veteran who previously held leadership roles at YouTube as chief product officer and CTO, outlined his vision for Grammarly in a blog post: to make the AI assistant smarter and more capable.

“Imagine if the Assistant not only provided excellent writing suggestions but also had secure access to all your systems, from email to documents, CRM tools, and project trackers,” Mehrotra wrote.

Additionally, Coda’s primary product, Coda Docs, will be enhanced with the Grammarly Assistant.

“In the long run, we plan to merge the best of Coda and Grammarly, combining company knowledge, generative AI chat features, a comprehensive productivity suite, and hundreds of agents to improve work efficiency. Our goal is to redefine productivity in the AI-driven era,” Mehrotra said.

Founded in 2009, Grammarly currently has 40 million active users and is valued at $13 billion. Coda, valued at $1.4 billion following its Series D funding round in 2021, will play a key role in Grammarly’s AI-driven expansion.

As AI assistants become more prevalent, Grammarly’s acquisition of Coda positions the company to better compete with others developing AI tools for writing and productivity.