Estonian cloud manufacturing platform Fractory has announced the appointment of Bjoern Klaas as its new CEO, and a new round of funding to fuel the company’s next growth phase.
Klaas brings over 25 years of experience in the manufacturing industry, having most recently served as Managing Director at Protolabs Europe for seven years. This is a strategic hire: Protolabs is a global digital manufacturing company specialising in rapid prototyping and low-volume production using technologies like 3D printing, CNC machining, and injection moulding. Klaas’s extensive background also includes senior leadership positions at several manufacturing companies.
Founded seven years ago by Martin Vares, Rein Torm, and Joosep Merelaht, Fractory innovates in the metal fabrication space. The company specialises in cloud manufacturing—a digital approach that connects customers with manufacturing suppliers through an online platform.
Martin Vares and Bjoern Klaas, photo by Fractory
It helps businesses access manufacturing services without owning equipment themselves, connecting buyers with a network of pre-vetted suppliers through automated systems that handle pricing, production planning, and logistics. Fractory has raised almost $5M in 2023, expanding to the UK and Scandinavia. The company has offices in Estonia, Finland and the US, and employs over 50 people.
Martin Vares, who will transition to the role of COO, expressed optimism about the leadership change: “This union of entrepreneurial spirit and incredibly fitting experience means Fractory’s DNA remains not only intact but gets enhanced.”
With the new funding and leadership, Fractory plans to focus on several strategic areas:
- Building a connected manufacturing ecosystem that spans multiple production stages
- Improving process efficiency and automation to reduce costs
- Expanding partnerships to increase capacity
- Growing revenue through targeted customer acquisition
The company will continue providing services such as laser cutting, CNC machining (computer-controlled precision cutting), and assembly work while aiming to prove its business model’s scalability and improve its unit economics—the revenue and cost structure for each manufacturing job it processes.
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