Startup raises $7 million to build backpack-portable 8.8-ounce drone interceptors — Mara claims 20x cost advantage over other interceptors, priced one-for-one against attack drones

San Francisco defense startup Mara has secured $7 million in a pre-seed round to produce what it calls Spike, a portable counter-drone system housed inside a backpack. The complete system costs $30,000 to $100,000, depending on the number of Seekers included, but its 250g (~8.8 ounces) autonomous interceptors are designed to cost no more than the few-hundred-dollar FPV quadcopters they destroy. Those quadcopters, which carry munitions capable of destroying armored vehicles worth millions, are now reported to be the leading cause of Ukrainian combat casualties.

A single Spike launcher holds up to 48 of the Seeker interceptors and reloads in less than a minute, with each Seeker capable of engaging targets out to roughly one mile, per Mara’s published specs. In an exclusive interview, CEO Daniel Kofman told the outlet Tectonic Defense how FPV crews operate on the frontline. “They launch from anywhere at anything, and they never attack one at a time. They always attack four to six at a time in waves, doing pincer strikes in rapid succession or simultaneously.”