Terra Industries closes $52M seed to arm the Global South

Terra Industries has closed a $52 million seed round, adding an $18 million top-up that the two-year-old company says will fund its first international office in London, a bigger Ghana factory, and a push of its autonomous drones and ground vehicles into more Global South markets. TechCrunch reports the round included 8VC, Silent Ventures, Nova Global, Belief Capital and SV Angel, with Norleo Space Investments and angel Grant Gordon among the new backers; Lux Capital had led a $22 million tranche in February, and a January round brought in $11.75 million.

The company, founded in 2024 by Nathan Nwachuku and Maxwell Maduka, builds long- and mid-range autonomous drones, interceptor drones, sentry towers, and unmanned ground vehicles, all running on a proprietary software platform it calls ArtemisOS. A 15,000-square-foot Pax-1 plant in Abuja is already operating; a 34,000-square-foot Pax-2 facility in Ghana is set to open in the fourth quarter, with a stated target of 50,000 units annually by 2028.

"Critical infrastructure across the Global South is best protected by systems designed for these environments and built in the regions they protect," Nwachuku said.

Terra says its technology is already protecting nationally critical assets worth roughly $11 billion across African countries, and it has signed a memorandum of understanding with Nigeria's Defence Industries Corporation for a joint venture on local production. The company says it's on track to book $100 million in contracts by year-end, including at least one federal contract, and to generate revenue in the tens of millions.

Terra names its competition as any defense company that has won government contracts, "especially suppliers from Turkey, China, and the West."