Frankenburg closes Series A, sets sights on UK and expanded portfolio

Frankenburg has secured €30 million in Series A funding as it seeks to disrupt Europe’s established air defence players. The question is whether or not the alternatives are seen as viable. 

By Sam Cranny-Evans, editor of Calibre Defence. Published on February 25, 2026. 

The Estonian air defence start-up Frankenburg has announced the close of its Series A funding at €30 million. The round was led by Plural and followed by SmartCap, and will be used to launch “multi-site missile production,” the February 24 press release states. 

If you don’t know Frankenburg, the company was launched in 2024 with the goal of making air defence more affordable. It has enjoyed early support from SmartCap, Estonia’s state-backed investment arm, as well as Kuldar Väärsi, the founder and CEO of Milrem Robotics. 

It aims to produce 100 of its Mark 1 short-range air defence missiles per day from two sites in Europe. Frankenburg has also established a presence in eight European countries with its sights set on the notoriously difficult UK market. 

Under the Series A funding, the company also plans to set up its own solid rocket motor production in Europe. This has been a hot topic of late, and a key bottleneck for NATO. Frankenburg also plans to expand its portfolio to include other types of interceptor and “surface-launched capabilities,” the press release states.

Investor profile: Plural

Plural is a London-based, operator-led venture capital firm founded in 2022 by experienced entrepreneurs, according to the fund’s website. The team includes the co-founders of Wise and Songkick, and it focuses on early-stage European technology investments. Its goal is achieving “GDP-level impact” and it has also invested in Helsing.

Calibre comment: SPAAGs and short-range air defence

The company’s rapid expansion is seemingly in anticipation of the need for air defence against waves of low-cost drones. We are primarily talking here about the Shahed/Geran one-way attack drones that Russia is using against Ukraine. There are many solutions in this field, including the Nimbrix missile from Saab, and Cambridge Aerospace which is aimed more at cruise missiles. But there are also the traditional SPAAGs. Self-propelled anti-aircraft guns (SPAAGs) were a mainstay of Cold War defence, built to defend airfields and command posts. 

Ukraine has used its SPAAGs to good effect both against the nightly waves of Shaheds and Russian cruise missiles. They are in many ways the cheapest solution, costing at most a few thousand euros per intercept. Scaling ammunition production and stockpiling 30 mm (or 40 mm) rounds is also much easier and cheaper than missiles. This is important because a Telegraph article in November 2025 reported that a Frankenburg Mk 1 missile would have a cost of around €50,000 each. The Series A may scale production to reduce those costs, but they are a long way off those of a SPAAG. 

So, it seems that SPAAGs have a lot going for them as a reliable and effective response to massed air strikes. At the short-range end of the spectrum at least. 

If you would like some further reading on this air defence problem and the threats, check out the links below. Thank you! 

• DSEI UK 2025: Cambridge Aerospace to present air defence solutions
• Balancing the books: The realities of Western air defence 
• Shahed and Geran: The evolution of Russia’s deep strikes – Calibre Defence 

The lead image shows a test firing of a Frankenburg Mk 1 missile. Credit: Frankenburg.