Frankenburg Technologies, an Estonian defence technology start-up, has raised €30 million in new funding to mass-produce the company’s interceptor missiles.
The company plans to use the capital to rapidly scale production of its flagship Mark I interceptor missile – a low-cost, high-speed solution designed specifically to counter the growing global threat posed by mass-produced attack drones.
The round was led by the operator-led investment platform Plural, with significant participation from the Estonian state-backed fund SmartCap. It brings Frankenburg’s total capital raised to €40 million.
Founded in 2024 by serial entrepreneurs Taavi Madiberk and Marko Virkebau, Frankenburg Technologies emerged from the belief that traditional defence systems are too expensive and too slow to manufacture for modern, high-attrition warfare.
Madiberk said he founded Frankenburg because Europe needed a “SpaceX-style shift in defence missiles”.
Solving the economic imbalance of warfare
The funding will support the establishment of two mass-production sites within the European Union. The company’s goal is to achieve a production capacity of more than 100 missiles per day at each site.
By focusing on “low-cost interceptors”, it aims to address the economic imbalance in modern drone warfare, in which expensive, million-dollar missiles are often used to shoot down drones that cost only a few thousand dollars to produce.
In a separate development, the British defence and aerospace company BAE Systems has signed a memorandum of understanding with Frankenburg to explore collaboration on counter-drone technologies. The agreement will initially focus on combining the companies’ expertise to accelerate the development of warheads for Frankenburg’s planned mass-producible missile systems.
Frankenburg currently operates across eight countries, including Estonia, Latvia, Germany, the UK and Ukraine, where its systems are being developed using real-world operational feedback. The company is led by chief executive Kusti Salm, the former permanent secretary at Estonia’s defence ministry.
