PopCap Casually Raises $22.5M

Plants vs. Zombies and Peggle developer PopCap Games today announced it has raised $22.5 million in funding, money that it will use to expand its growing casual game development machine.

"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 PopCap CEO David Roberts.

The investment, lead by Meritech Capital Partners, represents the first time PopCap has solicited outside help to bolster its operations.

"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," said Meritech's Rob Ward of the deal. "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."