NEW YORK: Kite Hill PR has acquired tech-focused agency Cutler PR.
Based in New York City and Tel Aviv, Cutler has clients in the cyber security, enterprise technology, mobile, and retail tech categories. All four Cutler staffers join Kite Hill as part of the deal, as well as founder Zach Cutler, who will transition to the role of strategic adviser and be based in Tel Aviv.
Cutler PR, which was founded in 2009, will not retain its brand. The media relations-focused firm led the U.S. launch of Gett and headed worldwide PR for Trivia Crack, helping it reach 250 million users. Cutler has helped dozens of startups achieve funding, acquisition, or IPO.
Tiffany Guarnaccia, CEO of Kite Hill PR and founder of Communications Week, said her firm focuses on industries such as ad tech, media, entertainment, and music tech. The acquisition of Cutler is a "nice evolution" of Kite Hill’s business as the firm starts to look at B2B tech categories and emerging sectors, she said. Guarnaccia is specifically "excited" by the Tel Aviv tech scene.
"I’ve been looking at ways to accelerate the growth of Kite Hill to create a new force in tech PR," she said. "Cutler was very interesting as they had deep roots in doing media relations for companies that represented a category of what I considered emerging technology."
Following the acquisition, Zach Cutler will be focused on developing Propel, a smart CRM for PR he created to bring innovation, machine learning, and analytics to the industry. Propel has closed a pre-seed round of funding and is launching its public beta for agency and in-house PR teams next month.
"[Guarnaccia] has built a great firm and our whole Cutler PR team is excited to join forces with Kite Hill PR," said Cutler. "Our clients will benefit from many more services and resources, and our team will immediately have more opportunities."
Kite Hill, which launched in 2014, offers clients traditional PR and media relations, as well as event production and content creation. The firm has offices in New York and London and three divisions – Kite Hill PR, Kite Hill Content Studio, and Kite Hill Experiences – through which it provides content marketing, event management, and media relations services to a global client base.
"The synergies between [Kite Hill and Cutler] include a broader focus on technology as well as media relations skills and work in the thought leadership category," said Guarnaccia. "By creating comms programs through thought leadership and corporate storytelling, the common thread is helping tech companies tell their stories and break through."
No layoffs or client conflicts result from this deal, which finalized two weeks ago.
The deal’s financial terms were not disclosed.
This story was updated to clarify the number of Cutler staffers
