Casual games publisher PlayFirst has announced that it has raised $16.5 million in its Series C financing round led by DCM, adding to its previous Series A and B rounds of funding and bringing its current total of venture capital raised to $26.5 million. Existing investors, including Mayfield Fund, Trinity Ventures and Rustic Canyon Partners, also participated in the round.

PlayFirst says it plans to use the funding to accelerate casual game and web development, expanding its new business models for games like Chocolatier, Wedding Dash and Dream Chronicles, which incorporate microtransactions and social networking elements.

The company also announced a joint initiative with web application developer RockYou to distribute PlayFirst's Wedding Dash game on social networking sites, beginning with Facebook, aiming to expand the way its users engage with casual game content and allowing the audiences of those networks to receive promotions from PlayFirst.

Said PlayFirst president and CEO John Welch, "PlayFirst has a history of breaking new ground and with our introduction of virtual goods into Diner Dash, we continued that trend in 2007. We are thrilled to have the backing of DCM and the continued support of our existing investment partners to help us grow the casual games industry into the mass-market, highly profitable business that industry insiders and analysts expect it will be.”