Nov 18, Reuters -- Grammarly, a software that helps improve people's writing, has raised fresh capital at a valuation of $13 billion, which underscoring sky-high demand for writing assistance.
In its previous funding round in 2019, it was valued at more than $1 billion and Grammarly's growth in the last few years after it launched a freemium business model in 2015, helping it to have a loyal base of millions of daily users and other big-name enterprise customers, including Zoom Video Communications Inc, Cisco Systems Inc, and Expedia Group Inc. Around 30 million people are using Grammarly's services every day, according to the company.
In the latest round, Grammarly raised over $200 million from investors led by Baillie Gifford and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock Inc.
Brad Hoover, Chief Executive Officer, told Reuters in an interview that the startup has no plans to go public.
Grammarly was founded in 2009 by Max Lytvyn, Alex Shevchenko and Dmytro Lider, and initially focused on a subscription-based product to help students with their grammar and spelling.
Grammarly uses machine learning to assist with basic writing, but also spell-check, grammar, tone of language, and context.
Since it was launched, Grammarly has built numerous products, including Grammarly Business, which help large companies with different functions, including sales and marketing. Some of its other services include a plagiarism detector.
Under the deal, Grammarly's writing suggestions will be integrated with the South Korean company's smartphone keyboard, as well as a partnership with Samsung Electronics. That will allow Samsung customers to use Grammarly's tools without having to install an app.
Grammarly also has a desktop application for Microsoft Corp's Windows and Apple Inc's Mac operating systems.