Darrow Associates Announces Addition of Silicon Valley-Based Summit IR Group

MELVILLE, NY--(Marketwired - Jun 24, 2013) - Darrow Associates, Inc., a leading investor relations agency serving growing small-cap companies, today announced that effective July 1, 2013 Silicon Valley-based Summit IR Group, Inc. will merge with Darrow Associates. The addition of the Summit IR Group team and their clients provides Darrow Associates with an immediate presence in Silicon Valley, which continues to experience dynamic growth.

Current clients of Summit IR Group will continue to benefit from the firm's technology industry expertise, which includes concentrations in telecommunications, semiconductors and software. This background will be augmented by additional resources and broader perspective brought by the Darrow team's history representing clients in the aerospace and defense, clean technology, financial services, healthcare, and industrial growth sectors, in addition to their already substantial technology and telecommunications practice. The merger further enables Darrow Associates to enhance its support for current and future clients with local representation in Silicon Valley while Summit will benefit from the presence of Darrow Associates' predominant strength on the East Coast. Following the merger, Darrow Associates will have offices located in Melville, New York City, Austin, and Silicon Valley.

"We are very excited to welcome Summit IR Group and its founder Jim Fanucchi to our growing investor relations practice," said Jordan Darrow, President of Darrow Associates, Inc. "This milestone event effectively extends our firm to the West Coast with a critical hub in Silicon Valley, the heart of the burgeoning technology investment community. We embarked on this expansion after growing the firm by 31% in 2012, and Summit will add an estimated 30% to our top line on a pro forma basis based on their revenues last year. The combined firms had an average client retention rate of approximately 48 months at the end of 2012, which demonstrates the value of our contributions to and the partnerships we are able to maintain with our clients. Through the merger of Summit into Darrow Associates, we collectively have added significant experience to our already deep benches to better serve public and pre-IPO technology companies, whether they be from the West Coast or anywhere within our expanding national presence."

"I am excited about this merger and the opportunities it brings the newly combined company. By merging two strong firms we will offer significant depth of resources and more than 100 years of investor relations consulting experience to our growing client roster," said Jim Fanucchi, who will serve as Managing Director, Head of West Coast Operations for Darrow Associates. "We expect to expand our West Coast presence by offering hands-on service locally, which will be paired with access to a team of investor relations professionals in New York and other key regions across the country."

Summit IR Group has been implementing investor relations programs for clients globally since 2003. The firm has been involved in a full range of investor oriented activities, from managing IR programs for pre-IPO companies through mergers and acquisitions.

Darrow Associates is an investor relations and financial communications firm with offices in Melville, New York, New York City, Austin, and, effective July 1, 2013, Silicon Valley. The firm serves the needs of select companies through the implementation of strategic programs with high level counsel provided by the firm's principal consultants. Clients served are primarily public and pre-IPO companies in growth sectors of the economy. Darrow Associates' professionals have significant experience in consulting and working for companies in the technology, telecommunications, media, business services, alternative energy, clean technology, healthcare, financial services, industrial, and aerospace and defense industries. Additional information on the firm is available at www.darrowir.com.