Terra Industries Raises $18 Million to Close $52 Million Seed Round

Nigerian defence-tech startup Terra Industries has raised an additional $18 million. The funding takes its total seed raise to $52 million.

The latest round makes Terra’s seed raise the largest reported for an African defence-tech startup. Existing investors 8VC, Silent Ventures, Nova Global, Belief Capital and SV Angel participated.

New investors Norleo Space Investments and angel investor Grant Gordon also joined the round.

Terra will use the funding to expand manufacturing and deploy its systems across the Global South. It will also grow its engineering, operations and business development teams.

The company will open its first international office in London. The office will give Terra access to global defence institutions and technology talent.

Founded in 2024 by Nathan Nwachuku and Maxwell Maduka, Terra builds autonomous systems for governments and infrastructure operators.

Its products operate across land, air and maritime environments. They include drones, interceptor systems, sentry towers and unmanned ground vehicles.

Terra connects these systems through ArtemisOS, its proprietary software platform. The platform supports threat detection, mission planning and coordinated responses.

Terra says its technology protects critical assets worth about $11 billion across several African countries.

“This funding lets us scale that work and deepen our manufacturing base. It also puts us in the rooms where global defence decisions are made,” said Nwachuku, Terra’s co-founder and CEO.

Terra is also expanding its manufacturing capacity in Africa. It operates the 15,000-square-foot Pax-1 facility in Abuja.

The company is developing a second factory in Ghana. The 34,000-square-foot Pax-2 facility is expected to open in the fourth quarter of 2026.

Once fully operational, Pax-2 could become Africa’s largest drone factory. Terra expects it to produce up to 50,000 aerial systems annually by 2028.

The company plans to keep manufacturing centred in Africa. It also intends to expand its footprint into the Gulf, South America and South Asia.

The latest funding follows two raises earlier this year. Terra secured $11.75 million in January and another $22 million in February.

Terra has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Nigeria’s Defence Industries Corporation of Nigeria. The agreement covers a joint venture for local defence-system production.

With the latest funding, Terra now has more capital to increase production and enter international markets. The company is also positioning Africa as the base for its growing defence-technology business.