Nigerian defence-tech startup Terra Industries has raised an additional $18 million, bringing its seed round to a close at $52 million, the company announced on its website.

The new capital will fund Terra's first international office in London, along with an expansion of its manufacturing capacity and its engineering, operations and business development teams. Chief Executive Officer Nathan Nwachuku confirmed the raise on X, saying the London office will house the company's operations and AI teams, while manufacturing remains based in Abuja and Accra.

The round drew existing investors 8VC, Silent Ventures, Nova Global, Belief Capital and SV Angel, alongside new investor Norleo Space Investments and angel investor Grant Gordon, Terra said. The line-up reflects the broader wave of venture capital that has moved into defence technology in recent years, as funds back startups building autonomous systems for government and critical-infrastructure customers. A $52 million close is also an unusually large sum for a seed round, and stands well above typical early-stage raises in Africa's startup ecosystem.

Sovereign defence push for the Global South

Founded in 2024 by Nathan Nwachuku and Maxwell Maduka, Terra designs and manufactures autonomous defence systems, including drones, sentry towers and unmanned ground vehicles, intended to help governments and infrastructure operators monitor and secure critical assets across land, air and maritime environments. The company said its technology already protects power plants, mines and other nationally critical assets valued at approximately $11 billion across multiple African countries.

"Critical infrastructure across the Global South is best protected by systems designed for these environments and built in the regions they protect," Nwachuku said. "This funding lets us scale that work and deepen our manufacturing base. It also puts us in the rooms where global defense decisions are made."

Terra's product range includes the Archer VTOL and Iroko UAV drones and the Duma unmanned ground vehicle, all running on ArtemisOS, the company's proprietary software platform for autonomous threat detection and mission coordination.

The London office adds to Terra's manufacturing base, which consists of the 15,000 sq ft Pax-1 facility in Abuja and a second plant, Pax-2, under construction in Ghana. Once operational, the 34,000 sq ft Pax-2 facility is expected to become the continent's largest drone factory, with capacity to produce 50,000 units annually by 2028.

Third funding expansion in a year

Terra has expanded its funding three times within the past year. The company closed an initial seed round in January led by 8VC (earlier reporting), followed by a $22 million extension in February led by Lux Capital (according to earlier reporting) that pushed its valuation past $100 million. That trajectory — a nine-figure valuation reached within about a year of the company's founding — is rare at seed stage and makes execution against the new manufacturing and hiring plans the clearest test of the funding.

Nwachuku said Terra's ambitions extend beyond Africa, with plans to expand into the Gulf, South America and South Asia as the company builds what it describes as sovereign defence infrastructure for the Global South. The near-term markers of progress will be the completion of Pax-2 in Ghana and the staffing of the London office.