Exclusive: ‘We’re spending millions to stop threats that cost thousands’: Startup Furientis aims to revolutionize defense

Brody Franzen is showing me his missiles and his comically large American flag. His company Furientis, operates out of Lenny Kravitz’s old studio in Los Angeles. He puts his head next to two mach three (three times the speed of light) nose cones that are browned like toasted marshmallows. “That’s from the supersonic flow hitting the nose,” he says. Franzen is the cofounder and CEO of Furientis, a defense startup that emerged from stealth with $5 million in pre-seed funding, Fortune learned exclusively. Silent Ventures led the round with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners, SV Angel, Vanderbilt University, Channel 39 Ventures, and the founders of companies including Anduril and Armada. Furientis’ pitch is expectedly intertwined with geopolitics. The U.S. has depleted its stockpile of seven major types of missiles, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies—including using more than 150 THAAD interceptors—missiles that Lockheed Martin typically produces about 96 of per year. The U.S. military was also firing multi-million-dollar interceptors at drones that cost as little as $5,000 in Iran. “This mismatch is what pushed us to start Furientis,” Franzen told Fortune. “We’re spending millions to stop threats that cost thousands, and it doesn’t scale.” But it’s production, not price, that’s the real problem. In the 1990s, there were more than 50 defense “primes”—the manufacturers that build complete weapons systems. Today, there are five. In ship-borne interceptors, there’s one. “Our adversaries, like China, are claiming the capacity of building thousands of anti-ship cruise missiles per week,” he says. “The math just doesn’t make sense from a production standpoint.” His answer is to build ship-based interceptor missiles like cars, or better yet, IKEA furniture. Furientis uses automotive-style materials, automotive-style assembly processes, and commercial off-t