http://tags.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/gawker.com.png http://gawker.com/tag/valleywag/baldertoncapital http://gawker.com/tag/valleywag/baldertoncapital Big Fish Games — a maker of low-end videogames known as "casual games" — just landed $83.3 million in funding from Balderton Capital, General Catalyst Partners, and Salmon River Capital. Paul Thelen, a RealNetworks veteran who worked on that company's videogames business, founded Big Fish, which has seen one of "the biggest game-related fundings in recent history," according to PaidContent. The company plans to spend the money on acquisitions, international expansion and getting games onto the Nintendo Wii. Iminlikewithyou founder Charles Forman, who makes a different type of online game, tells us Big Fish makes "games for Ohio shut-ins" and that "they represent the very old school of casual gaming, which is still a very good business. Their demo is 45-year-old women who don't have jobs but have tons of disposable income."

]]> http://gawker.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5048978&view=rss&microfeed=true AOL's new social network Bebo is based in San Francisco, but it does most of its business in Europe. So it's fitting that Benchmark Capital's spun-off European wing — Balderton Capital, led by Irishman Barry Maloney — took home the $140 million jackpot. Maloney and his partners sold the firm's entire 15.7 stake in Bebo, which they purchased for $15 million back in 2006.

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