First Light Acquisition Group (FLAG) Adds $25M to Calidi Biotherapeutics Deal

First Light (FLAG) announced this morning that it has secured $25 million in additional funding for its combination with clinical-stage drug developer Calidi Biotherapeutics.

The investment is to be led by Jackson Investment Group, which has put forward $5 million as the first stage of a Series B. The remaining $20 million is conditioned upon Calidi closing its combination with First Light and includes some promote shares as an inducement to investors from First Light’s sponsor and Metric Finance Holdings.

The combination did not previously include committed capital provisions, but the parties noted they would seek out a $40 million PIPE at announcement.

The new cash also brings Calidi closer to where it was in a previous SPAC deal announced with EDOC Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:ADOC) in March 2022. This included a $25 million PIPE, a $10 million backstop and later a $75 million stock purchase agreement, but it was terminated in August 2022.

Calidi’s new $335 million combination with First Light was announced in January with at a -25% valuation cut from the EDOC deal. But, the new committed capital is nonetheless expected to advance its CLD-101, CLD-201, and CLD-202 drug candidates, which deliver oncolytic viruses for targeted therapy against difficult-to-treat cancers.