Helicos has received a $700,000 cash advance from Atlas Venture and Flagship Ventures as part of a bridge loan agreement Helicos entered into last year with those investment firms, according to documents filed with the US Securities Exchange Commission.
The deal comes just a few weeks after Helicos reported that it would require "significant additional capital" in December to keep operating (IS 11/15/2011).
In the original financing deal, Helicos agreed to sell up to $4 million worth of convertible promissory notes to Atlas Ventures and Flagship Ventures, with a total committed purchase amount of $2 million and the right to purchase up to an additional $2 million on or before Dec. 31, 2012 (IS 11/30/2010).
As part of this latest cash advance, the firms amended the original agreement to say that Atlas and Flagship would purchase notes at least once more before Dec. 31, 2012, for no more than $1 million.