Getting communication right is crucial in this digitally connected world — it’s become foundational to achieving individual and business goals. Based out of San Francisco, Grammarly is on a mission to improve lives by improving communication using a combination of technological approaches and human expertise.
Recently, Grammarly has secured over $200M in funding at a $13B valuation from new investors Baillie Gifford and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, among others. The company plans to use the funds to accelerate product innovation and team growth. To date, the company has raised $400M in funding.
Grammarly’s recent funding underscores the importance of our mission and the widespread need for effective communication,” says Brad Hoover, CEO of Grammarly.
“By facilitating clear and confident communication, Grammarly helps people excel both professionally and personally. It drives real impact for our users and the ecosystems in which they operate, including businesses,” he adds.
#1 Founded MyDropbox
Before Grammarly, Max Lytvyn and Alex Shevchenko created a plagiarism-checking software in 2002 named as MyDropbox. By 2007, MyDropbox was used by more than 800 universities and 2M students. However, the founders realised the product had a narrow use case and limited growth potential. Consequently, the founders sold the company to start a new venture.
#2 To communicate effectively
Max Lytvyn and Alex Shevchenko founded Grammarly in 2009 to help people communicate more effectively, a problem with a much bigger market opportunity. Initially focused on supporting students’ spelling and grammar through a subscription-based product, they soon saw the potential on how Grammarly could help in all circumstances, from students to business professionals.
#3 Delivers 100B writing suggestions per month
The platform accelerates effective communication across more than 500,000 applications and websites. To date, the company supports 30M people every day while delivering over 100B writing suggestions to users each month.
#4 Uses NLP & ML methods
According to Brad Hoover, Grammarly CEO, the company applies NLP and ML methods to fine-tune them to deliver precise and understandable communication feedback across simple interfaces. The company’s real-time suggestions offer consistency, contextual grammatical error correction, inclusive language practice, promote conciseness, and more
#5 Profitable soon after inception
Grammarly remains profitable and has been cash-flow positive since soon after inception. The company makes money from selling subscriptions, not data.
Recently Harris Poll study commissioned by Grammarly reports that 94% of business leaders say effective communication is key to meeting business goals. Consequently, Grammarly Business has seen notable growth in demand among enterprises. Numerous brands including Zoom, Expedia, and Cisco use Grammarly Business to accelerate engagement and productivity, reporting up to a 20% efficiency increase and 30% improvement in customer satisfaction.
#6 Accolades and awards
The company was identified as one of Inc.’s Best Workplaces 2021, one of The Software Report’s Top 100 Software Companies of 2021, and a member of the 2021 Forbes Cloud 100.
Baillie Gifford
Based out of Edinburgh, Baillie Gifford is an independently owned company that focuses on investment and asset management. The company is owned and managed by 39 of its senior executives who operate as a partnership, a structure, which existed for over a century and provides stability for clients and motivation for employees.
“We’re happy to partner with Grammarly to democratise effective communication. As the world has digitised, people communicate more than they ever have—yet it has never been so difficult,” says Peter Singlehurst, Head of Private Companies at Baillie Gifford.
He adds, “Grammarly is one of the few businesses in the world focused on solving this problem. What attracted us is the company’s vision and the team’s ability to drive the product forward to help more people in more situations communicate better.”
