PopCap Games, the leading developer and publisher of the world's most widely played video games, today announced that it has secured US$22.5 million in funding led by Meritech Capital Partners, one of the preeminent late-stage investment firms. Meritech was joined in the financing round by Larry Bowman and John McCaw, both longtime technology industry luminaries and investors. The new funding round represents a minority stake and is the first in the ten-year history of PopCap, which has maintained profitability since its inception while growing to more than 240 fulltime employees in offices around the globe.

"PopCap is arguably the most unique video game company on the planet," stated Rob Ward, managing director at Meritech. "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."

While PopCap's founders previously diversified their holdings by selling some stock to board member Bowman, this is the first time the company itself has raised capital for operational purposes, including working capital and 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, CEO of PopCap. "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."