20 Things You Didn’t Know About Grammarly
Grammarly is a technology company that specializes in the development and distribution of software for digital writing that detects errors in written text and alerts the author about incorrect syntax, misspelling, punctuation and grammar errors as well as indicating the tone of the piece written. This is an amazing program that offers a host of benefits for those in the writing profession as well as for students of all ages. The company has been around for about a decade and although it’s not the most well-known software developer, the name is becoming more familiar thanks to an effective marketing campaign and a surge in popularity among writers. Grammarly isn’t a company that is listed on the stock exchange, but there are potential investors who would truly love to see this happen. Their growth has been nothing short of phenomenal. Here are 20 things that you didn’t know about Grammarly to help you become more familiar with the company.
1. Grammarly was launched in 2009
The business has been in operation for a full decade. Grammarly was founded by Alex Shevchenko, Dmytros Lider, and Max Lytvyn. All three are Ukrainian entrepreneurs. Together, these three men established the company that develops digital writing tools that help users to find and correct errors before submission.
2. Grammarly uses cutting edge technology
The digital writing tool called Grammarly uses four main types of advanced technology to accomplish its intended goals. These include Artificial Intelligence, (AI), natural language processing, machine learning, and deep learning algorithms. It’s a complicated process of technological processes that yields user-friendly results.
3. Grammarly offers a holistic writing tool
Perhaps one of the most impressive aspects of Grammarly’s writing detection program is that it offers a complete suite of suggestions to enhance and clarify written documents. Writers benefit from the automatic detection of grammar issues, writing clarity, the proper use of vocabulary, the tone of the written work, the style, spell checking, and also plagiarism detection. The program is comprehensive and it is designed to alert the writer of any and all potential issues within the draft of any written work.
4. Grammarly is a United States-based company
Although the three founders of Grammarly are from the country of Ukraine, the company itself is based in San Francisco, California. Grammarly has expanded its borders beyond the United States and has opened offices in Vancouver, New York City, and Kyiv.
5. Grammarly’s app doesn’t auto-correct
Another impressive aspect of the Grammarly application is that it doesn’t rely upon auto-correct functions. The program is designed to flag any issues detected in written documents and to provide alerts to the writer. This allows the author to consider the recommendations made by the program and to make the decision whether or not to make the recommended changes. Control of the document is left solely in the hands of the author.
6. Free and premium editions are available
A part of Grammarly’s marketing strategy for this exciting product is to give users the opportunity to use the free version for as long as they want, with no obligation to upgrade. This edition offers basic grammar, spelling, punctuation, and word choice suggestions. The premium edition, which is offered for a monthly fee takes the suggestions a step further and delves more deeply into sentence structure, better clarification of sentences and paragraphs for a more professional finished product. Grammarly offers an additional upgraded product titled Grammarly Business, which is intended to be used as an enterprise tool.
7. Grammarly has participated in two funding rounds
This company is backed by private venture capital and it has entered into two funding rounds. The first transaction was led by General Catalyst on May 8, 2017, and $110 million was raised in the funding round. The most recent round of funding was also led by General Catalyst and was announced on October 10, 2019. The second funding round resulted in an additional $90 million in funding bringing the total amount of funding for Grammarly raised to $200 million.
8. Grammarly is classified under several industry categories
Although the primary category for Grammarly falls under software development, it is listed under several different categories. In engine searches, it can be found under apps, artificial intelligence, machine learning, mobile apps, blogging platforms, assistive technology, productivity tools, and software. These are the applications that are the most relevant for the company and its end products.
9. Grammarly is a privately held company
Grammarly has ample financial backing through venture capital funding. It is a privately held company that has not yet filed for an IPO. There are no plans for Grammarly to go public as the four other investors including Institutional Venture Partners, Signal Fire, Spark Capital, and Breyer Capital have joined with General Catalyst in providing the necessary funding for operations and expansion.
10. Grammarly uses dozens of technology products and services
When users download a writing tool, it’s essential that the tool is compatible with all programs that may potentially be used. Grammarly is interconnected with 42 technology products and services. It is designed to work with Vimeo, WordPress, Google Analytics, and programs of this nature. Within an average month, Grammarly’s digital writing tool is downloaded just over a million times. The two most popular Grammarly products are Grammarly Keyboard – Type with confidence, and Grammarly Keyboard. The Grammarly website employs the use of 60 technologies including Mobile Compatible, SPF, IPhone, Viewport Meta, and similar technologies.
11. Grammarly is an Award-winning company
According to information on Grammarly’s LinkedIn page, this business was named as a Leader in G2”s Winter 2020 Grid Report. This recognition acknowledged the contributions that the team has made to improving technology in the writing sector with useful software programs that help writers to improve their skills along with the final products submitted.
12. Grammarly is recognized as one of the Most Innovative Companies
According to fastcompany.com, Grammarly is listed as among with most innovative companies because the products help people to improve their writing. The use of artificial intelligence helps users to become more clear in written communications and this in turn results in a greater level of success. There are over 15 million who use the Grammarly application on a daily basis.
13. Grammarly started out as a different company
When Grammarly was first conceived, it started out as a business that was called Sentenceworks. This followed Shevchenko and Lytvyn’s sale of their MyDroBox plagiarism checking tool to Blackboard. They started with a program that pasted text and it was a barebones WYSIWYG editor. Over time, the web app evolved and added functions including spelling and syntax suggestions.
14. Grammarly techs tweaked the program for education
By 2011, techs working with the development of Grammarly had customized the program to meet the needs of educational institutions and this year it gained a customer base of over 250 universities with 300,000 students using the application. This increased the annual revenue to about $10 million.
15. Grammarly extended the reach of its products in 2012
Prior to 2012, Grammarly mostly worked with educational institutions, contracting services with them, but there was a much larger untapped market out there. During 2012, the decision was made to pull away from exclusivity with academic segments and open the products out to the general public with millions of potential users. Grammarly launched a marketing campaign offering a seven-day trial and a subscription plan for $11.99 per month. The company relied upon social media channels for advertisement including YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and others. This was a successful campaign that brought it a host of new users.
16. Grammarly has evolved over time
Grammarly continued to evolve fand in 2014, plugins for Microsoft Office integrated the Grammarly grammar checker with Word and Outlook. The following year, the company launched browser extensions for Safari and Chrome. This was followed by a Firefox extension, an add-on for Google docs, and the capability for email and message scanning with Grammarly Keyboard that was designed specifically for use with iOS and Android, effectively extending the services for mobile apps.
17. Grammarly was made for a broad range of professionals
Part of the success of the Grammarly company is that the products are tailored to meet the needs of a broad range of professionals. These include Academics, Authors, Bloggers, Students, Content Marketers, Copywriters, and any business professional who desires accurate reports, presentations, emails, social media posts, and documents.
18. Grammarly serves four main English dialects
Grammarly was created to meet the needs of anyone who uses the English language, but having said this, there are several different versions of English used throughout the world. People in Canada have their own form of English, those in the UK have a different dialect with distinctions in the spelling of keywords. What may be considered to be correct in one version of the language will not be in another. Grammarly offers the writing tool in American English, Australian English, Canadian English, British English, plus more. Both native English speakers and those for whom it is a second language can benefit from the suggestions that are offered through the Grammarly application.
19. Grammarly is changing the way we write
There are millions of people who rely upon spell-check in their daily lives. We discussed several different professions in which writing is a basic part of the job. Clear communication is a necessity to avoid ambiguity and mixed messages. In a busy world, it’s too easy to make small mistakes that can have large implications and consequences. Grammarly has provided one of the strongest digital writing tools in the world. This single program has the potential to change the way that we write. There are pros and cons to an over-reliance on technology to catch mistakes, but there is no coming back from the forward rush headlong into a society that is heavily dependent upon this kind of technology. It’s become a matter of keeping up with the rest of the world whether it’s wanted or not. With Grammarly, users can now gain useful insight into their own writing patterns, including the tone of the work, the readability score, sentence structure, and other habits that they may not have previously noticed. One of the most positive aspects of the program is that it calls upon users to do the actual corrections themselves. It won’t make the changes for you and when you see that you’ve established certain patterns, it’s easier to consider making positive changes based upon the feedback received.
20. Grammarly is likely to be around for decades
Grammarly is a company that gives us yet one more example of how the world is changing around us. Although this is a privately held company that is not currently active in stock market trading, it’s possible that at some point in the future it may take this route. It’s a company to keep your eye on because the services and products that it develops and provides for the general public are highly useful and the demand for these products is only likely to increase with the passage of time. Unless the company is acquired by a larger corporation, the odds are in favor of Grammarly becoming a staple within all industries that require accurate writing, which is almost all of them. This is a revolutionary new tool that has positive implications for improving written communications throughout the world. While it also reinforces our dependence on technology, this is a reality that there is no escape from. We believe that Grammarly has the potential to be around for many more decades, at least in some form. With millions currently using the products on a daily basis, and investors happy to provide the necessary funds for expansion, the privately held company will likely be around for years to come.