Digital technology-Grammarly, a provider of writing assistance technology, recently reached a $13B valuation that coincided with its closing of a $200M+ funding round. New investor Baillie Gifford led the round with participation of funds and accounts managed by BlackRock and others.
“We’re delighted to partner with the team at Grammarly to democratize effective communication. As the world has digitized, people communicate more than they ever have—yet it has never been so difficult,” said Peter Singlehurst, Head of Private Companies at Baillie Gifford. “Grammarly is one of the few businesses in the world focused on solving this problem”.
When the company was founded in 2009, a valuation of such magnitude was rare and therefore probably not foreseen. Now with AI and digital technology penetrating almost every corner of people’s lives, unicorn startups are more and more common—with high valuations sometimes reached within months such as Modern Treasury and Notco.
Grammarly’s advanced writing assistance technology that is used by a broad range of organizations, businesses and individuals around the world contributes to its high valuation. Writers everywhere rely on its AI driven platform for suggestions in terms of correctness, clarity, engagement, and the delivery of their writing—helping them attain their communication goals.
“Grammarly’s latest funding round underscores the importance of our mission and the broad need for effective communication,” said Brad Hoover, CEO of Grammarly. “By enabling clear and confident communication, Grammarly’s platform helps people excel both personally and professionally. It drives real impact for our users and the ecosystems in which they operate, including businesses.”
While the company has over 30,000 teams and over 30 million daily users, high expectations remain for more growth now that new funding is in place. This includes accelerating their product innovation, building on its current 500,000 applications and websites. Much of its success is tied to not limiting users to one software suite or operating system for receipt of their communication feedback.
Recently Grammarly commissioned a Harris Poll which revealed that 94% of business leaders say “effective communication is key to meeting business goals”. This has spurred Grammarly on, with particular focus on the enterprise where they see growing demand—and building on their momentum of the tripling of team members since 2019.
Their latest two initiatives include the launch of a new desktop product called “Grammarly for Developers” and the establishment of strategic partnerships like “Grammarly for Samsung Keyboard”, positioning the company to provide its real-time communications suggestions to more people across more applications. The company continues to advance its best-in-class NLP and ML technology to deliver personalized communication feedback to users around the globe.
Their efforts are being rewarded as large dollar contracts increased by more than 250% over the past year that includes teams joining from top brands such as Zoom, Cisco, and Expedia. Their clients readily attest to the productivity their platform brings.
As the rise of the digital-first world continues to change how people work and live, the role of communication is growing in importance. Grammarly is at the forefront of this great transformation. They are helping individuals and businesses build a foundation to reach their goals and improve their lives through better communication.
