Nigerian defense-technology startup Terra Industries has raised an additional $18 million, closing its seed round at $52 million. The capital will support expansion of manufacturing capacity in Africa and the opening of the company’s first international office in London.
Existing investors 8VC, Silent Ventures, SV Angel, Nova Global and Belief Capital participated in the latest tranche, alongside new investor Norleo Space Investments and angel investor Grant Gordon. CEO Nathan Nwachuku confirmed the raise, noting that the London office will house operations and AI teams while manufacturing remains based at the company’s defense plants in Abuja and Accra.
Terra, founded in 2024 by Nwachuku and Maxwell Maduka, designs and builds autonomous systems including drones, unmanned ground vehicles and sentry towers aimed at protecting critical infrastructure. The company says it currently safeguards more than $11 billion in national and strategic assets across Africa and is expanding its focus to other parts of the Global South, including Southeast Asia and the Gulf.
The $52 million total marks one of the largest seed rounds for an African defense-tech company. Terra first raised approximately $11.75 million in January 2026 in a round led by 8VC, then added a $22 million extension led by Lux Capital in February, bringing the total at that point to about $34 million. The latest $18 million closes the seed stage.
Proceeds will fund growth of the engineering, operations and business-development teams, accelerate product deployments, and expand manufacturing. The company is completing its larger Pax-2 facility in Ghana, which is expected to become one of the continent’s biggest dedicated drone production sites.
Defense technology remains a capital-intensive sector. Terra’s ability to attract repeated follow-on capital from prominent U.S. and global investors in under a year reflects both the scale of security demand in its target markets and the founders’ early traction with government and commercial contracts. The London office signals an intent to professionalise international operations and talent acquisition while keeping production rooted in West Africa.
Whether the company can convert the expanded balance sheet into sustained revenue and broader geographic deployment will be the next test. For now, the closed $52 million seed and the London foothold give Terra a stronger platform from which to pursue its stated goal of building sovereign defense infrastructure for the Global South.
