San Francisco defense startup Mara has raised $7 million to develop and bring to market Spike, a portable counter-drone system aimed at small first-person-view attack drones, according to The Register and Tom’s Hardware. Tom’s Hardware describes the round as pre-seed; The Register reports that Khosla Ventures led the financing. The company is targeting a problem now visible on the battlefield in Ukraine: cheap FPV quadcopters carrying explosives can threaten troops and armored vehicles at a cost far below many traditional defensive systems. The Register says Mara is positioning Spike as a cost-effective response to FPV drone swarms, while Tom’s Hardware reports that such drones are now reported to be a leading cause of Ukrainian combat casualties. Spike has two main components. The Spotter unit handles detection and targeting, combining electro-optical and acoustic sensors with an optional radar, according to both outlets. The Seeker is the kinetic interceptor: a small autonomous munition that Mara says is tube-launched and guided by onboard intelligence toward the target. Both reports say each Seeker weighs about 250 grams, with Tom’s Hardware describing that as roughly 8.8 ounces, and that a Spike launcher can carry up to 48 interceptors and be reloaded in less than a minute. The Register reports that Mara says the system can scale from a rucksack-carried kit for a squad, to a vehicle-mounted launcher, to a multi-kilometer perimeter shield for a base or site. Tom’s Hardware reports, citing Mara’s published specifications, that each Seeker can engage targets at roughly one mile. The economics are central to Mara’s pitch, but they remain company-claimed. Tom’s Hardware reports that the full Spike system costs $30,000 to $100,000 depending on the number of Seekers included, and that Mara wants each interceptor to cost no more than the low-cost FPV drones it is meant to destroy. Tom’s Hardware also reports Mara’s claim that the interceptor costs 20 times less than the next-cheapest alternative. The Register said it asked Mara for more detail on Seeker range and cost. Mara says pieces of the system have already been tested by potential customers. The Register reports that Seeker completed intercepts cued through U.S. Army systems at an exercise in Texas, while Spotter was operated on an armored vehicle during another Army exercise in Europe. Both outlets report Ukrainian forces have operated Spotter near the front line, where Mara says it tracked multiple FPV drones. The customer pipeline is still early. The Register reports that Mara has research and testing agreements with three U.S. defense organizations and early-stage engagements with military partners in the U.K., Czech Republic and Ukraine. Tom’s Hardware reports Mara joined NATO’s DIANA accelerator 2026 cohort, has a civilian pilot at a South Korean commercial port, and has its first paid order from a European NATO partner for an undisclosed exercise. The product timeline is also forward-looking. Tom’s Hardware reports that ground-mounted Spike units are due to reach customers by the end of 2026, with vehicle-mounted and man-portable variants and scaled production planned for 2027. For now, the story is a funding milestone around a system whose battlefield utility, unit economics and production readiness still need outside validation. Who benefits: Mara benefits from fresh capital and reported tests, agreements and early customer activity. Units facing FPV drone threats, and operators of fixed sites that need layered short-range protection, would benefit if the claimed cost and performance hold up. Who's exposed: Suppliers of higher-cost counter-drone systems could face pressure if lower-cost kinetic interceptors prove reliable. The exposure is still conditional because the key cost and field-performance claims are mostly company-reported.