African defense tech startup Terra Industries raises $52M

Nigeria-based defense technology startup Terra Industries has raised $52 million in a seed funding round, a haul the company says is the largest-ever seed round by an African startup. The raise includes participation from Norleo Space Investments and angel investor Grant Gordon, alongside existing backers 8VC, Silent Ventures, Nova Global, Belief Capital and SV Angel. Terra, founded in 2024 by Nathan Nwachuku and Maxwell Maduka, develops automated security systems — including long- and mid-range drones, interceptor drones, sentry towers and unmanned ground vehicles — that operate in land, air and maritime environments and are coordinated by its ArtemisOS software.

"Critical infrastructure across the Global South is best protected by systems designed for these environments and built in the regions they protect," said Terra chief executive Nathan Nwachuku. "This funding lets us scale that work and deepen our manufacturing base. It also puts us in the rooms where global defense decisions are made."

Products, deployments and manufacturing footprint

Terra’s autonomous systems provide real-time threat detection and autonomous mission-planning capabilities through ArtemisOS, which the company says enables coordinated responses to security incidents. Despite being only two years old, Terra reports deployments across several African countries where its systems help secure critical infrastructure valued at more than $11 billion.

• Hardware portfolio: long- and mid-range drones, interceptor drones, sentry towers, unmanned ground vehicles.
• Software: ArtemisOS for threat detection, mission planning and coordinated responses.
• Manufacturing: Pax-1 — a 15,000-square-foot factory in Abuja, Nigeria; Pax-2 — a 34,000-square-foot facility in Ghana that is not yet fully operational but, when online, is expected to be the largest drone factory in Africa and produce around 50,000 units across Terra’s systems portfolio.

Terra emphasizes local production in the markets it serves. The company currently operates two manufacturing facilities and has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Defence Industries Corp. of Nigeria to establish a joint venture focused on domestic production of defense systems.

Funding history and strategic moves

The $52 million seed round follows a busy funding year for Terra: an earlier $11.75 million round in January — at the time the largest funding round by an African defense technology firm — and a $22 million follow-on round a month later that broke that record. Investors participating in the latest round include both new names like Norleo Space Investments and Grant Gordon and existing firms such as 8VC and SV Angel.

With the new funds, Terra plans to expand beyond Africa. The company intends to open a new office in London to gain better access to institutions shaping global defense and infrastructure markets, while continuing to recruit operations and artificial intelligence talent. Longer-term ambitions include expanding manufacturing into the Middle East, South America and South Asia and growing engineering and business development teams.

Outlook

Terra’s strategy centers on regionally tailored systems built where they are deployed, a positioning Nwachuku argues differentiates the company from Western competitors. As Pax-2 moves toward full operation by year-end and the company builds a presence in London and other regions, Terra aims to scale production capacity and broaden its customer base across the Global South while maintaining its African manufacturing base.