Frankenburg Technologies is Building Europe’s Next-Generation Missile Manufacturing Capacity

Frankenburg Technologies, redefining air-defence technology solutions for national defence and critical infrastructure, led by Kusti Salm, Andreas Bappert, Juhan Tenisson, and the team, has raised €30 million in Series A funding, led by Plural and followed by SmartCap. Founded in 2024 by serial deep-tech entrepreneurs Taavi Madiberk and Marko Virkebau, Frankenburg Technologies was established to address a structural shift in Europe’s security landscape: modern aerial threats can now be produced cheaply and at scale, while traditional missile manufacturing has historically focused on performance over speed, cost, and regenerability.

Led by CEO Kusti Salm, former Permanent Secretary of Estonia’s Ministry of Defence, Frankenburg Technologies combines senior defense leaders and missile engineers with experience on IRIS-T, SPEAR3, Storm Shadow, and Brimstone. The company is building sovereign European production of low-cost, precision-guided missiles across air, surface, and maritime domains.

Europe faces large-scale aerial threats while traditional interceptors remain costly and slow to produce.

Frankenburg Technologies develops affordable, mass-manufacturable missiles compatible with existing sensors and air-defence systems. In 13 months, the Mark I short-range interceptor advanced from concept to industrialisation, using a modular, containerised production approach for localised, rapid deployment.

Scaling Sovereign Missile Production

New funding will establish tangible, EU-based missile-manufacturing capacity focused on production, resilience, and regeneration.

Key initiatives include:

• Two mass-production sites in Europe, capable of 100 missiles per day per site

• Securing long-lead components and early production stock for schedule certainty

• In-house rocket motor and warhead production for vertical control over critical energetics

• Expanding missile hubs in the UK and Germany for development, prototyping, and integration

• Growing engineering, safety, quality, and export-control teams to ensure deployable systems

These investments aim to enable multi-site, high-volume missile production while strengthening Europe’s defence-industrial base.

Manufacturing Where Europe Needs It

Frankenburg Technologies operates across eight countries: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, the UK, Denmark, Poland, and Ukraine, focusing on engineering, industrialisation, and a growing network of collaborations across land, air, and maritime domains with European and allied partners.

The company’s model prioritizes local manufacturing, short supply chains, and skilled jobs, ensuring defence spending strengthens national economies. By combining modular production, off-the-shelf components, and rapid qualification cycles, Frankenburg provides European nations a credible path to sustained air-defence readiness, even under prolonged stress or conflict.

Building the Foundations of Europe’s Missile Arsenal

The €30 million Series A brings Frankenburg Technologies’s total funding to €40 million, supporting expansion from its first operational systems to a full-spectrum missile portfolio. While Mark I meets immediate air-defence needs, future programs will extend beyond counter-UAS and short-range defence to additional air- and surface-launched precision systems, all produced using the same scalable, industrialised manufacturing model.

Taavi Madiberk, Founder and Chairman of Frankenburg Technologies, stated that Europe has long outsourced its defence strength, and that must change. Frankenburg aims for a “SpaceX-style” shift in missile production: build fast, move faster, and compete on cost and performance. While initially focused on counter-drone missiles, the long-term goal is to become a global missile leader, delivering lower costs and higher performance than US or Chinese incumbents across key missile categories.

Kusti Salm, CEO of Frankenburg Technologies, stated that Europe’s deterrence challenge is not just budgetary but about availability. Effective defence requires systems that are abundant, quickly replaceable, and affordable at scale. Frankenburg was created to restore speed, scale, and sustainability to missile defence, with funding enabling real industrial capacity for missiles that can be produced and deployed at scale.

Sten Tamkivi, Partner at Plural, stated that in a world where adversaries can deploy tens of thousands of autonomous attack drones, effective defence must be cheap, fast, and available in large numbers. Frankenburg Technologies addresses one of Europe’s most urgent defence challenges by combining deep expertise with a startup-speed, industrialised manufacturing approach, creating credible deterrence and strengthening Europe’s security and industrial resilience.