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Estonian startup Frankenburg has secured €30 million in a Series A funding round to revolutionize European missile manufacturing with its innovative technology. The investment, announced recently, comes as the continent grapples with the urgent need to scale its defense production capabilities, a vulnerability highlighted by the war in Ukraine.
Founded in 2022 and based in Tallinn, Estonia, the company was established by a group of former NATO and European military officials. According to EU Startups, the funding round gives the startup a post-money valuation of €120 million.
The startup’s core technology addresses one of the most significant challenges facing Europe’s defense industry: slow and centralized production processes. The company has developed a platform that leverages artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, and digital twins to create modular “micro-factories”. These containerized production units can be rapidly deployed to various locations, enabling decentralized and significantly accelerated missile manufacturing. This approach aims to break the reliance on a few large-scale factories, which have become bottlenecks and are vulnerable to disruption.
The need for such a solution has become painfully clear. Current European missile production is described as being too slow to meet the demands of modern warfare. The investment signals a paradigm shift in how Europe approaches defense procurement, moving away from relying solely on traditional defense contractors towards embracing agile, technology-driven solutions from the startup ecosystem. The company’s distributed manufacturing approach could be considered a “game-changer” for European security.
The capital injection will enable the company to expand its team, accelerate development, and begin deploying its first micro-factories for its primary customers, which include European governments and defense ministries. This move underscores the growing importance of technological innovation as a critical component of the continent’s defense strategy and highlights the rise of defense-tech startups as key players in the industry’s future.
Looking forward, the successful implementation of this technology could pave the way for a more resilient and responsive European defense industrial base. By decentralizing production, the continent can better mitigate supply chain risks and ensure a more rapid response to emerging security threats, marking a significant step forward in its strategic autonomy.
