Screen Shot 2016-04-21 at 12.45.01 PMSeattle-based PayScale is pushing deeper into compensation analytics with the purchase of MarketPay, a 16-year-old Colorado-based company that helps companies more effectively manage salary information. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The acquisition follows a $100 million majority investment that private equity powerhouse Warburg Pincus made in PayScale two years ago. It also marks the first acquisition by PayScale in its 16-year history.

Since that big investment by Warburg, PayScale has been growing fast, adding 140 employees in the past 15 months. It now employs 275 people, and recently moved to new offices to accommodate additional growth. MarketPay, which started as a compensation consulting firm, employs 65 people. They will join PayScale.

Together, the two companies will have more than 5,000 customers — including AARP, Time Warner and Kohler — across a wide array of industries. MarketPay boasts 20 percent of the Fortune 1000 as customers.

“They have great customer relationships and deep expertise in compensation,” said PayScale senior vice president of marketing Tim Low in an email to GeekWire. “Their applications for housing, shaping and managing different data sets is a perfect fit for leveraging some of the data science innovations that PayScale has created.”

Low added that MarketPay brings specific tools around machine learning, assisting with matching titles, jobs and salaries. Companies use those tools to come up with better compensation packages that allow them to obtain and retain key talent.

“Our team has decades of experience working with organizations to develop compensation programs that attract and retain the right employees and—ultimately — drive better business results,” said Mark Avery, CEO of MarketPay, in a statement. “We’ve built our technology and services to be compatible with traditional compensation survey data and we’re excited to work together with PayScale to accelerate the development and delivery of leading-edge solutions for our mutual customers.”

Added PayScale CEO Mike Metzger:

“MarketPay has a proven track record of providing state-of-the-art analytical tools and excellent customer service that allows enterprise customers make difficult decisions around pay. As a result, they’re the perfect partner as we bring PayScale’s modern compensation solutions to global companies that are looking for data driven insights on talent markets.”

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