Terra Industries, the Nigerian defense-tech startup founded by two Gen Z entrepreneurs, has pushed its seed round to $52 million, the largest ever raised by an African startup at that stage.
The final $18 million tranche drew returning investors 8VC, Silent Ventures, Nova Global, Belief Capital and SV Angel, alongside new backers Norleo Space Investments and angel investor Grant Gordon. The money will fund Terra’s first office outside Africa, in London, with manufacturing staying in Ghana and Nigeria.
Co-founders Nathan Nwachuku and Maxwell Maduka launched the company, formerly Terrahaptix, out of stealth in January with an $11.75 million round led by 8VC. Its product line spans autonomous drones, interceptor drones, sentry towers and unmanned ground vehicles, all coordinated through ArtemisOS software for threat detection and mission planning.
Terra’s pitch is sovereignty: systems engineered for Africa’s heat, dust and patchy communications, built locally with data controlled on the continent, rather than licensed from Western or Chinese suppliers. Nwachuku has said the goal is to build Africa’s first defense prime.
Governments and infrastructure operators pay for hardware plus an ongoing fee for data processing and monitoring. Terra estimates that roughly $11 billion of Africa’s critical infrastructure still relies on imported security systems.
