Terra Industries, formerly Terrahaptix, today announced a landmark $11.75 million seed funding round, one of the largest ever for an African deep tech startup. The round, led by 8VC - the venture capital firm founded by Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale - draws participation from Valor Equity Partners, Lux Capital, Silent Ventures, Leblon Capital, SV Angels, Nova Global, investor Micky Malka (also noted as Meyer Malka), and Jordan Nel.
Alex Moore, Board Director at Palantir Technologies, joins Terra’s board, alongside Eliot Pence, an alum of U.S. defense tech firm Anduril. This U.S.-centric investor lineup brings specialized defense expertise to position Terra for protecting trillions in African infrastructure amid rising security threats.
Founded in early 2024 by Nigerian entrepreneurs Nathan Nwachuku and Maxwell Maduka, Terra began as Terrahaptix, developing drones and the Artemis AI command-and-control platform. Inspired by Anduril’s model, the duo pivoted to hardware, establishing a 15,000-square-foot factory in Abuja— Africa’s largest drone manufacturing facility. The company rebranded to Terra Industries in 2025, securing contracts safeguarding $11 billion in critical assets after initial explorations beyond defense.
CEO Nathan Nwachuku, who launched edtech firm Klas at age 15 serving 700,000 users despite losing an eye, pairs with Maxwell Maduka, former lead drone engineer for the Nigerian Navy and founder of Spatial Nova (acquired by Nord Motors in 2022). Both 22 at the announcement, their track records and Pan-African vision propelled the firm’s ascent
Nwachuku shared his ethos on social media: “I think I’m a Pan-Africanist. I want to see Africa work in my lifetime”. On the funding, he posted: “We need to protect Africa’s critical infrastructure from terrorist attacks. We have been a bit wary of calling ourselves a defence company, but now we’re doing it fully.” Maduka, active in the Africa Deep Tech Community, described his path from teaching robotics at 17: a drive to “help critical industries scale” via autonomous systems.
Terra already commands millions in commercial and government contracts, including a $1.2 million hydropower dam security deal outbidding an Israeli rival and $2 million in 2025 orders. The fresh capital will “ramp up defense production across Africa and scale our data intelligence OS,” per the official announcement, fostering sovereign intelligence independent of foreign reliance.