PopCap Games is massively successful at blurring the lines between hardcore and casual. Their colorful and simple titles attract seasoned gamers and novices alike, leaving an unparalleled level of addiction as a wake.
News out of Seattle this morning hints at an even brighter future for the casual king. It was just announced that PopCap has secured $22.5 million in funding from Meritech Capital Partners. Also contributing to the pot is Larry Bowman and John McCaw, touted as longtime tech luminaries and noted investors. The minority stake is a first for PopCap. While PopCap has diversified holdings in the past by selling stock to board members, this is the first occasion capital has been raised for expansion – notably to increase operations and leave room for potential acquisitions.
“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.”
“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.”
So things look good for PopCap. Quality titles such as Bejeweled, Peggle, Zuma and Plants vs. Zombies have resulted in over a billion downloads worldwide. Not bad.