Barokas Communications Founder Howie Barokas, left, and CEO Karli Barokas are joining Finn Partners as managing partners and Global Tech Practice leadership team. All of Barokas Communications’ 20 employees are expected to make the transition, as well.

Barokas Communications, an independent public relations firm that has become a mainstay of Seattle’s technology community over the past two decades, representing a large number of the region’s tech startups, has been acquired by New York-based Finn Partners, a global marketing and communications firm.

Barokas, which has offices in Seattle and Denver, will expand its capabilities by tapping into Finn’s broader marketing and communications capabilities in areas such as branding, creative, digital marketing and paid advertising, said Barokas Communications CEO Karli Barokas. In the past, the firm has found that clients sometimes looked to larger agencies when they reached a certain size, but being part of Finn should help to address that issue.

Financial terms of the acquisition weren’t disclosed. The deal is part of a broader wave of mergers and acquisitions in the tech industry.

“The addition of Barokas will especially enable us to expand our expertise with earlier stage companies, which has always been a high growth, high opportunity sector,” said Peter Finn, founding managing partner and CEO of Finn Partners, in a post announcing the deal this morning.

Barokas was started 23 years ago by Howie Barokas, who left Imagio Advertising and Public Relations to launch his own firm, using the mantra of “PR Minus the BS.”

Howie Barokas and Karli Barokas are joining Finn Partners as managing partners and members of its Global Tech Practice leadership team.

All of Barokas Communications’ 20 employees are expected to make the transition to Finn Partners, as well.

“For our team, it really gives folks a lot of access to resources that we just didn’t have as a smaller agency,” Karli Barokas said. “One of the things that we’re really excited about is the opportunity to be able to bring a more comprehensive set of services to companies in Seattle.”

Current clients of Barokas Communications include magniX, Eviation, Center, 98point6, Airbiquty, WTIA and Educative.

Over time, the Barokas name is expected to be phased out from the business. For now, the firm will go by Barokas, A Finn Partners Agency.

Seattle’s strength in technology has given rise to a small but vibrant group of independent tech PR firms and practitioners, in addition to larger players such as WE Communications and Edelman.

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