African defense technology startup Terra Industries has emerged from stealth with an $11.75 million funding round.
The round was led by U.S.-based venture firm 8VC, founded by Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, with participation from Valor Equity Partners, Lux Capital, SV Angel, Leblon Capital, Silent Ventures, Nova Global and several angel investors including Micky Malka. As part of the investment, Alex Moore, Defense Partner at 8VC and a board director at Palantir, joined Terra Industries’ board last year.
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Founded in 2024 by Nathan Nwachuku and Maxwell Maduka, Terra Industries designs and manufactures autonomous defense and security systems tailored specifically for African operating environments. The company’s technology is already deployed to protect power plants, mines, and other nationally critical assets across multiple African countries.
“Africa is industrializing faster than any other region, with new mines, refineries, and power plants emerging every month,” said Nathan Nwachuku, co-founder and CEO of Terra Industries. “But none of that progress will matter if we don’t solve the continent’s greatest Achilles heel, which is insecurity and terrorism.”
Rather than selling standalone hardware, Terra is building what it calls Africa’s first defense technology prime, a vertically integrated platform combining autonomous hardware and proprietary software.
The company’s portfolio includes long- and mid-range drones, autonomous sentry towers, unmanned ground vehicles, and maritime surveillance systems, all powered by ArtemisOS, Terra’s in-house software platform. ArtemisOS enables real-time threat detection, autonomous mission planning and coordinated responses across land, air, and sea, particularly in environments where traditional security models struggle to scale.
According to the company, Terra Industries already helps secure infrastructure assets valued at approximately $11 billion, with tens of millions of dollars in active contracts and a growing pipeline across both public and private sector clients.
Current deployments include the Geometric Power Plant in Aba, two hydropower plants in northern Nigeria, and gold and lithium mining operations in Nigeria and Ghana. While the company’s initial focus has been infrastructure protection, Terra says it is rapidly expanding into multi-national border security and counterterrorism as regional instability intensifies.
“This is African technology, built by African engineers, for African infrastructure,” said Maxwell Maduka, co-founder and CTO. “We are creating skilled jobs, building advanced manufacturing capacity, and ensuring the intellectual property behind Africa’s security stays on the continent.”
Before founding Terra, Nwachuku represented Nigeria at the Physics Olympiad and built an edtech platform that reached hundreds of thousands of users globally. Maduka grew up in Nigerian Naval barracks, served in the Nigerian Navy as a lead UAV engineer, and previously founded a drone company that was acquired by an automotive manufacturer.
The broader Terra team brings together experience from the Nigerian armed forces, global technology firms, and Western defense and intelligence organizations.
The new funding will be used to expand manufacturing capacity, grow Terra’s engineering and software teams, and deploy more autonomous systems across allied African countries.
“Nathan and Maxwell have assembled a brilliant team to tackle a vital problem for the continent,” said Alex Moore, Partner at 8VC. “We are excited to support their mission.”
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