These Gen Z Nigerian founders just raised $11.75 million for their defense tech company
Terra Industries, a Nigeria-based defense technology company, raised an $11.75 million in funding led by Joe Lonsdale’s 8VC [Lonsdale is also co-founder of companies including Palantir Technologies, Addepar, and OpenGov], as it emerged from stealth, according to TechCrunch. The round included Valor Equity Partners, Lux Capital, SV Angel, and Nova Global. Terra previously raised an $800,000 pre-seed round. The company said African investors in the round included Tofino Capital, Kaleo Ventures, and DFS Lab.
Terra, founded by CEO Nathan Nwachuku, 22, and CTO Maxwell Maduka, 24, builds autonomous systems to monitor and respond to threats against critical infrastructure. “The goal is to build Africa’s first defense prime, to build autonomous defense systems and other systems to protect our critical infrastructure and resources from armed attacks,” Nwachuku said.
The company is based in Abuja and sells long-range and short-range drones, surveillance towers, and ground drones. Terra said it is developing maritime technology to protect assets, including offshore rigs and underwater pipelines. Terra powers its platform with proprietary software called ArtemisOS, which “collects, analyzes, and synthesizes data in real time,” then alerts response forces when it detects threats. Terra said it recently won its first federal contract, but did not provide details. Nwachuku told TechCrunch the company has generated more than $2.5 million in commercial revenue and is protecting assets valued at around $11 billion, including at least two hydropower plants and several mines, with most clients in Nigeria.
Strategic Context
The financing places a US-led venture firm at the center of an effort to build domestic defense manufacturing and intelligence infrastructure in Africa, a sector historically shaped by procurement dependence, foreign training relationships, and externally supplied surveillance capabilities.
Nwachuku framed the company’s value proposition around “sovereign intelligence,” arguing that African states often rely on Western powers, China, and Russia for intelligence support. Terra’s model ties hardware deployments to recurring software revenue through annual fees for data processing and storage, a structure that can shift procurement from one-time equipment purchases to longer-term platform relationships. Terra said it plans to use the capital to expand manufacturing capacity by building additional defense factories across Africa and to grow its software and AI team. The company also plans to open software offices in San Francisco and London while keeping manufacturing on the continent.
