PopCap Scores

TechFlash reports: PopCap Games today announced $22.5 million in new funding—a significant development since the 9-year-old Seattle company has grown into one of the largest developers of casual games without outside funding. Late-stage investment firm Meritech Capital led the deal, with angel investors John McCaw and Larry Bowman also participating. Meritech is a Silicon Valley firm best known as an investor in Facebook, while McCaw is a former McCaw Cellular executive.

Bowman's involvement in the company was first reported by TechFlash in August after we discovered a filing showing that the PopCap had raised $7.3 million. The filing indicated that Bowman—once described by Fortune as a Silicon Valley "hedge fund king"—was also a director of the company. A spokesman said at the time that money was tied to last year's acquisitions of SpinTop Media and PlayTime Media.

In a press release today, PopCap said that Bowman had previously purchased shares in the company by cashing out stock of the company founders. But today's round is the first time that PopCap—creator of hit games such as Bejeweled, Peggle, and Plants vs. Zombies—has raised money entirely for operations.