Investors Are Betting $34M on This Nigerian Defence Startup

In a remarkable boost for African innovation, Nigerian defence technology startup Terra Industries has raised an additional $22 million in funding, just weeks after closing a major earlier round of $11 million.

The latest investment brings the company’s total capital raised to $34 million, a milestone that reflects growing global confidence in Africa-built high-tech solutions for security and infrastructure protection. 

Founded in 2024 by 22-year-old Nathan Nwachuku and 24-year-old Maxwell Maduka, Terra Industries started with a simple yet powerful goal to design and build cutting-edge autonomous defence systems that African nations can own, operate, and maintain. The company focuses on making integrated security solutions, such as drones, surveillance towers, and unmanned vehicles connected through smart software, all tailored to the continent’s unique needs. 

This ambition is significant because, historically, many African governments and critical infrastructure operators have relied on imported systems from Western, Russian, or Chinese suppliers, often expensive, difficult to maintain, and not customised for local realities. 

What makes Terra’s mission especially inspiring is that it is not led by seasoned generals or long-established defence contractors, but by a pair of young Africans who see security as both a challenge and an opportunity.

The fresh $22 million was raised in a follow-on round led by US venture firm Lux Capital, with support from returning backers such as 8VC and Nova Global, plus new investors like Belief Capital, Tofino Capital, and Resilience17 Capital, the latter founded by Olugbenga Agboola. Even Hollywood actor Jared Leto participated as an angel investor. 

This round closed in under two weeks, an unusually fast pace for African startups, especially in a deep-tech sector like defence. According to Terra’s leadership, investors moved quickly because the company’s traction with real customers, both government and commercial, exceeded expectations.

That confidence is worth noting. In many startup ecosystems, especially in frontier sectors, companies raise one round and then spend months or years before securing additional funding. Terra did the opposite; it accelerated.

Before this latest fundraise, Terra had just completed an $11.75 million seed round with strong investor interest. The company also celebrated its first federal government contract, a milestone that validated its purpose and technology. 

More importantly, Terra has already generated commercial revenue around $2.5 million by serving clients such as power plants, mines, and other operators of critical infrastructure. These are assets worth approximately $11 billion across multiple African countries that rely on complex, secure monitoring. 

These early wins are important because they show Terra is not just a promising idea but a functioning business with paying customers in sectors that genuinely need better tools to protect people and assets.

For Terra’s team, they want to create what they call "Africa’s first defence prime", a vertically integrated technology leader that designs, builds, and operates solutions without outsourcing key components. This mirrors the model of well-known U.S. firms like Anduril and Palantir, but with an African context and mission. 

Terra’s systems are integrated through a proprietary software platform called ArtemisOS, which allows real-time threat detection, autonomous mission planning, and coordinated response across air, land, and infrastructure environments. 

By combining hardware and software in this way, the company can offer solutions that are more versatile, more localised, and ultimately more useful for Africa’s wide and diverse terrain, from deserts and forests to coastal regions and mining belts.

With the new capital, Terra plans to:

• Expand manufacturing capacity in Africa, so tech and jobs stay on the continent.

• Accelerate deployments of its systems across Nigeria and other African countries facing security challenges.

• Grow its technical teams including engineering, Artificial Intelligence, and business roles in Africa, London, and San Francisco. 

This is beyond scaling a business, it’s a way to build local capability and pride. They want to show that Africans can lead in advanced tech arenas, not just adopt solutions developed elsewhere.

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What Terra is doing resonates on multiple levels. It’s a business story, yes, but it’s also a story about:

• Youth leadership in a serious sector.

• African ingenuity taking on problems that affect billions of lives.

• A shift away from dependency to technology sovereignty.

In a continent where insecurity remains one of the biggest challenges, from terrorism to infrastructure sabotage, Terra’s raise sends a message: Africa doesn’t just want to use technology. It wants to build it. And investors are beginning to believe that’s possible.