MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA — Silicon Valley's Singularity University has enlisted Ogilvy PR’s startup division Espresso. 

Singularity University came into existence in 2008 as the brainchild of Google exec Ray Kurzweil and X-Prize founder Peter Diamandis with an eye towards preparing “humanity for accelerating technological change.” The for-profit organization identifies as a benefit corporation that provides educational programs, partnerships and a startup accelerator to help individuals, businesses, institutions, investors, NGOs and governments understand "cutting-edge technologies, and how to utilize these technologies to positively impact billions of people." 

Last month, Singularity teamed up with California Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom to call on entrepreneurs around the world to submit exponential technology solutions to address California’s water supply challenge. The university is also the publisher of Singularity Hub, which chronicles technology breakthroughs and the individuals making them.

“In our agency search, we wanted a partner with the breadth and depth of expertise, as well as the intelligence and creativity, that could help bring the Singularity University story to life with high-impact across the globe,” said CEO Rob Nail. The account will reside within its Espresso division. 

In 2012, the organization became a for-profit because "the benefit corporation framework was designed to allow corporate executives more freedom to pursue objectives beyond maximizing investor returns,” according to a report in Wired. 

In 2013, Ogilvy PR launched Espresso, a division focused on startups. Espresso doesn’t operate a separate profit-and-loss structure and instead operates as service within its tech practices. Other new wins for Espresso include the connected energy management system Smappee and agile project management tools for the enterprise Axosoft.