Terra Raises Additional $18m to Extend Seed Funds to $52m

By Adedapo Adesanya

Terra Industries, a Nigerian defence technology startup, has raised an additional $18 million, extending its seed round for the second time this year and bringing the total funding it has raised to $51.75 million.

The latest extension follows two funding announcements earlier in 2026. In January, Terra Industries announced an $11.75 million round before raising a further $22 million in February.

Existing investors 8VC and Nova Global participated in both rounds, signalling continued confidence in the company’s strategy and growth prospects.

The latest $18 million extension includes participation from existing investors 8VC, Nova Global, Silent Ventures, Belief Capital, and SV Angel. It also brings two new investors into the company: Norleo Space Investments and angel investor, Mr Grant Gordon.

The company is expected to use all the new funding to scale its manufacturing capacity in Africa and build out its presence abroad.

Part of the expansion plans is to open its first European office in London, the United Kingdom.

In April, Terra also announced its first manufacturing facility outside of Nigeria, a 34,000-square-foot factory in Ghana called Pax-2, which will be Africa’s largest drone factory and where the startup expects to produce 50,000 autonomous systems annually once it’s fully operational in 2028.

Since it was founded in 2024 by Mr Nathan Nwachuku and Mr Maxwell Maduka, who were just 21 and 23, respectively, at the time, Terra has moved fast to roll out a wide range of autonomous systems on their way to building stronger Africa defense systems. So far, some of these techs include Archer: a VTOL drone with a 1,000km range, 13 hours of endurance, a 9-pound payload capacity, and a 26-foot wingspan, as well as Kallon, a solar-powered sentry tower with AI-enabled edge processing and a whole bunch of sensors to detect and track threats several kilometres away.

Others include Iroko, a small quadcopter drone for ISR or one-way attacks; and Kama, a new interceptor drone with a top speed of 300km/h among others.

Valued at over $100 million, Terra also aims to strengthen local sourcing of raw materials, reduce dependence on imports, and enhance domestic industrial capacity and strategic autonomy for Africa.