Grammarly acquires confidently-named “Superhuman” for $1B to build AI productivity suite

Grammarly has acquired email efficiency tool Superhuman as part of its push to build an AI-powered productivity suite and diversify beyond grammar correction. The acquisition follows Grammarly’s recent $1 billion funding round from General Catalyst, providing the resources to expand into a comprehensive workplace productivity platform.

Key deal details: Superhuman was valued at $825 million in 2021 and currently generates about $35 million in annual revenue.

• Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed by either San Francisco-based company.
• Superhuman CEO Rahul Vohra will join Grammarly along with over 100 employees, while continuing to run the Superhuman product and brand.
• The deal builds on Grammarly’s 2023 acquisition of startup Coda, which gave it a platform for AI agents focused on research, analysis, and collaboration.

Why this matters: Email remains the most dominant workplace communication tool, with professionals spending roughly three hours daily in their inboxes.

• “Email continues to be the dominant communication tool for the world. Professionals spend something like three hours a day in their inboxes. It’s by far the most used work app, foundational to any productivity suite,” said Shashir Mehrotra, CEO of Grammarly.
• Grammarly, founded in 2005, serves over 40 million daily users and generates more than $700 million in annual revenue.

Superhuman’s AI momentum: The email tool has significantly increased AI adoption among its user base while facing growing competition from tech giants.

• The company claims its users send and respond to 72% more emails per hour compared to traditional email clients.
• The percentage of emails composed using Superhuman’s AI tools has increased fivefold over the past year.
• Superhuman has raised over $110 million from investors including IVP and Andreessen Horowitz, but faces intensifying competition as Google and Microsoft add more AI features to their email platforms.

The vision ahead: The combined companies plan to integrate Grammarly’s AI agents directly into Superhuman and expand into enterprise markets.

• Users will be able to tap into a network of specialized agents that pull data from across digital workflows including emails and documents, reducing time spent searching for information or crafting responses.
• Vohra said the deal provides “significantly greater resources” to invest more heavily in AI and expand into calendars, tasks, and collaboration tools.
• The integration positions the companies to compete in the crowded AI productivity space against tech giants like Salesforce and numerous startups.