Grammarly's acquisition of Superhuman marks a significant step in its evolution from a writing assistant to a comprehensive AI-powered productivity platform. This strategic move aims to integrate advanced AI capabilities and email integration to enhance the user experience across various communication channels. By combining Grammarly's AI writing prowess with Superhuman's streamlined email management, the company seeks to create a unified ecosystem where AI agents collaborate with users to optimize productivity.
Grammarly, initially known for its grammar and spell-checking tool, has grown to support over 40 million daily users. The platform's AI agents offer contextual support in real-time across more than 500,000 websites and apps. These agents provide grammar and tone suggestions, rephrasing tips, and even AI-powered detection of potential writing authenticity issues. Now, Grammarly is expanding its capabilities, fueled by a recent $1 billion investment, to develop a suite of AI-driven workplace solutions. This includes a potential name change to reflect its broader scope beyond grammar correction.
Superhuman, founded in 2015, is an AI-native email platform designed to help users manage their inboxes more efficiently. It offers features such as automated replies, AI-powered drafting, instant scheduling, and smart reminders. Superhuman's tools enable users to respond faster and save several hours each week on email communications. Prior to the acquisition, Superhuman was valued at $825 million and generated approximately $35 million in annual revenue.
The acquisition aligns with Grammarly's vision of an "agentic future," where applications function as intelligent agents that collaborate with users. CEO of Grammarly, Shishir Mehrotra, believes that email is a crucial communication tool for billions of people and the number one use case for Grammarly customers. By integrating Superhuman, Grammarly aims to provide users with another surface for AI agent collaboration. This approach differs from other AI solutions by embedding AI directly into users' existing workflows.
Following the acquisition, Superhuman's CEO, Rahul Vohra, and over 100 employees will join Grammarly. Grammarly plans to invest further in Superhuman's core experience and develop new ways for AI agents to collaborate across communication tools. The combined company will focus on building AI tools for tasks beyond email, such as calendaring, task tracking, and collaboration, with the goal of creating a network of AI agents that streamline workflows for enterprise users.
This acquisition is a strategic move by Grammarly to solidify its position in the AI productivity market. By integrating Superhuman's email capabilities, Grammarly can offer a more comprehensive suite of tools that address the communication and productivity needs of professionals. While the financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, this acquisition, along with the previous acquisition of Coda, signifies Grammarly's commitment to expanding its AI-powered offerings. The company aims to create an "AI superhighway" that delivers writing agents to users across various applications and websites.
The long-term vision is to develop an AI-powered workplace assistant that seamlessly integrates with email, documents, chat tools, and other platforms. By providing users with AI that works where they work, Grammarly hopes to bridge the gap between the promise of AI and its practical application in daily workflows. This approach aims to empower users to be more creative, strategic, and efficient in achieving their goals.
