PopCap secures investment of $22.5 million
Funding will allow for more "aggressive expansion" of social gaming firm
PopCap Games has secured USD 22.5 million in its first ever round of funding. The stakeholders are led by Meritech Capital Partners, which was joined in the financing round by technology veterans Larry Bowman and John McCaw.
The investment marks the first time in PopCap's ten year history that it has raised capital for operational purposes, and the company's CEO said this investment would be used as working capital and for potential acquisitions.
"We're excited to have additional working capital that lets us be more aggressive with our expansion into social media and reaching new geographies," said David Roberts.
"Meritech is a premier late-stage investment firm with a portfolio that includes some of our most important business partners such as Facebook, and adding John McCaw to our investor roster is of huge strategic importance with his deep connections in the mobile and financial communities. We've been pursued by investment firms for many years and have resisted taking outside capital, but we liked Meritech's style and believe there's a tremendous opportunity to grow and evolve our business at a time when many other video game firms are retrenching."
"PopCap is arguably the most unique video game company on the planet," added Meritech MD Rob Ward.
"While other video game companies put out more flops than hits, PopCap has never produced a game that wasn't a critical and commercial success. Taking the company's boutique development style and universally appealing product lineup to the top of the video game food chain will be an exciting, potentially industry-changing, experience and we're happy to be a part of it."
Casual gaming company PopCap Games was founded in 2000 and is based it Seattle. It currently employs more than 240 staff across its Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, Vancouver, Dublin and Shanghai offices.