Communications advisory Foretell triples in size

Driving the news: The firm — which has been operating by word of mouth and with a password protected website — is scaling to meet the demand for "high touch" communications counsel, says Pelton.

• The firm brought on former journalist Jacqueline Policastro and Meta alum Sabrina Siddiqui as senior advisors, Bari Golin-Blaugrund as senior vice president and Department of Defense alum Jennifer Min as a digital lead.

What they're saying: "When we worked at Shopify, it was really clear to us that the type of firm that we needed — one that would move fast and break things and think outside the box — didn't exist," said Flotteron.

• "And so that was really the impetus for us to say, this is an opportunity. Let's go out and start this," she added.

The big picture: The PR agency landscape has dramatically shifted over the past three years.

• At one end of the spectrum there are more individual communicators going off on their own to launch boutique firms or small advisories, while on the other, holding companies are merging and PR behemoths are consolidating.
• The number of private equity deals in the PR and communications advisory space has more than doubled in the last five years, according to LSEG. This influx of cash has led to more firm mergers and acquisitions.

Plus, the needs of clients continue to evolve due to the volatile political landscape, media fragmentation and shifting stakeholder demands.

What's next: Foretell anticipates more growth in the year ahead.

• "We're at the place now where we can expand our bench pretty significantly. This is the start of that expansion, not the end of it," said Pelton.

More on Axios:

• Private equity interest in communications firms is growing
• "Challenger" firms rising: Top PR talent defect from big agencies