Nigeria’s Defence

Nigeria’s Defence-Tech Terra Industries Closes $52M Seed Round

Nigeria’s Terra Industries has raised another $18 million, bringing its seed financing to $52 million as the defense technology startup expands manufacturing in Africa and opens offices abroad. Existing investors 8VC, Silent Ventures, Nova Global, Belief Capital and SV Angel joined the round, along with Norleo Space Investments.

The funding follows an $11.75 million round led by 8VC in January and a $22 million extension led by Lux Capital in February. Terra was valued in the nine-figure range after that extension, Chief Executive Officer Nathan Nwachuku said at the time. The company has not disclosed a valuation for the latest financing. Terra was founded in 2024 by Nwachuku and Maxwell Maduka.

Terra makes autonomous systems for governments, militaries and operators of infrastructure. Its products include the Archer VTOL drone, the Iroko quadcopter, the Kallon sentry tower and the Kama interceptor drone. The company says its systems protect about $11 billion of assets, including oil, mining and power infrastructure, and it expects more than $100 million of contract bookings by the end of 2026.

Part of the funding will go to Pax-2, Terra’s 34,000-square-foot drone factory in Accra, Ghana. The site is designed to reach annual production capacity of 50,000 systems by 2028 and will complement Terra’s factory in Abuja. The company plans to use the facilities to meet demand for drones and counter-drone systems from African customers.

Terra is also opening its first international office in London, with plans for an office in San Francisco and a presence in Washington. Nwachuku said the company wants to sell systems beyond Africa, including in the Gulf, South America and South Asia. The expansion marks a shift from Terra’s early focus on Africa toward a wider market for defense systems built and manufactured on the continent as demand grows across several customer markets.

Terra’s $52 million seed round puts the company in a small group of African startups raising this level of capital for defense manufacturing rather than fintech, commerce or software. The funding also shows how investor interest in defense technology is spreading beyond the US and Europe as governments seek local suppliers for surveillance, drones and infrastructure protection. Terra’s model combines manufacturing in Africa with sales to governments and operators that need systems built for local conditions. Its test is production. Pax-2 in Ghana is expected to reach capacity of 50,000 systems a year by 2028, while Terra is also running its factory in Abuja. That scale will require contracts, supply chains, engineers and capital to move together. The company says it is on track for more than $100 million in contract bookings and revenue in the tens of millions this year, but it has not disclosed the customers behind most of those contracts. Its move into London, San Francisco and Washington also changes the company’s profile. Terra is no longer presenting itself only as an African defense supplier. It is trying to become a manufacturer for markets across the Global South while keeping production in factories in Nigeria and Ghana.