African Entrepreneur of the Month: Meet the defense-tech founders Western billionaires are betting their dollars

Founded by Nathan Nwachuku, 22, and Maxwell Maduka, 24, the Nigerian technology startup has raised $34 million in the first two months of the year, placing it among the most profitable young industries on the continent as it scales locally produced drones and autonomous security systems.

The investor roster shows confidence. Purpose indicates something great.

In many parts of the continent, pipelines, power mines, mining operations and intelligence corridors continue to rely on imported inspection systems and foreign intelligence systems.

That trust carries with it high procurement costs, supply-chain uncertainty and limited control over operational data.

Terra is based on a clear thesis: that the essential elements of this capability can be produced, collected and maintained locally.

Within 12 months of incorporation, the company has grown from a hardware testing project to one of Africa’s leading technology startups, earning its founders recognition as Business Insider Africa’s Entrepreneurs of the Month.

Terra is not Nwachuku’s first.

A graduate of Graceland International School in Port Harcourt, he received a scholarship in 2020 to study software engineering at Carleton University in Canada.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted these plans. Instead of stopping his ambitions, he decided to do business.

In 2022, he founded Klas, an educational-technology platform that enables independent academies to conduct live classes, distribute digital books and offer online courses within a unified system.

In a few months, Klas received $300,000 in angel funding from Techstars Toronto, Voltron Capital and prominent African technology operators.

The event created the first steps: thesis development, quick execution and quick fundraising.

That ability would underpin Terra’s payment system.

Alongside Nwachuku is Maxwell Maduka, Terra’s founder and chief engineer.

Maduka, who hails from Eastern Nigeria, has built a technical background as a drone engineer with the Nigerian Navy, gaining access to defense-grade unmanned systems.

Before Terra, he founded Spatial Nova, a micro-drone maker that was later acquired by Nord Motors in 2022.

An alumnus of the Yaba College of Technology in Lagos, Maduka now oversees Terra’s hardware architecture, avionics systems and robotics integration.

An alumnus of the Yaba College of Technology in Lagos, he now oversees architectural design, avionics systems and robotics integration.

Under the combined leadership of the founders, the business has evolved into a multi-domain systems developer that integrates aerospace, unmanned ground vehicles and shipper infrastructure through the proprietary ArtemisOS software platform.

In January, Terra raised $11.75 million in a funding round led by 8VC.

In the following weeks, it added another $22 million in funding led by Lux Capital, bringing the total funding to $34 million, the largest released funding for a high-tech start-up in Africa.

The expansion was closed within two weeks, driven by what Nwachuku described as “strong momentum” and “faster than expected.”

Part of the investment story is marketing. Property security is a growing market, especially in a continent that is estimated to hold approximately 30% of the world’s precious mineral reserves while seeing strong real estate investment in energy, mining and materials.

However, for some investors, motivation goes beyond profit.

Lux Capital co-founder Josh Wolfe, who has previously written about security threats in Nigeria and the Sahel region, organized the investment in terms of politics.

In an article on X, Wolfe wrote: “I have been posting about Nigeria and the threat of Islamist terror for 6+ years. Lux is now funding the defense in Nigeria that will expand across the Sahel and protect Africa from the evil sowers of violence.”

The report highlights how Terra’s investments sit at the intersection of venture capital, regional security and industrial governance.

The newly raised capital will be used to significantly increase the company’s production capacity.

In the first phase, the firm plans to increase production at its Abuja site to 40 million dollars a year. Meanwhile, construction of a large factory at an undisclosed location will begin within a few weeks, Chief Executive Officer Nathan Nwachuku said.

Currently, from its 15,000-square-foot robotics plant in Abuja, the company produces thousands of systems every year.

However, the proposed expansion marks the transition from an early-stage to full industrial-scale production.

Along with its production expansion, the company moved to deepen its institutional cooperation.

It recently formed a partnership with the Defense Industries Corporation of Nigeria (DICON), the Nigerian Armed Forces-run defense manufacturer.

Under the agreement, the parties will establish a partnership within DICON to develop advanced security systems.

These include drones, robotic platforms, cybersecurity infrastructure and mission software.

Within this framework, the startup will provide technical expertise, manufacturing support and supply-chain access while operating under the government.

This plan reinforces its position within Nigeria’s formal defense ecosystem.

Meanwhile, the company is expanding its footprint beyond the continent.

According to Bloomberg, will jointly build a factory with AIC Steel in Saudi Arabia. This move marks its first expansion of production outside of Africa and places the firm within the wider Middle East supply chain.

Taken together, these two trends indicate a shift in intelligence. In 2024, working under the TerraHaptix brand, management led the sales market on military development.

Now, with 34 million dollars raised this year, the company is engaging government agencies from a position of great power.

Defense production, however, remains a political concern. It is made up of administrative control, foreign control and changing geopolitical alliances.

The company’s expansion coincides with a broader policy agenda often described as “Pax Africana” – the idea that African countries should build and control their security infrastructure.

Incidentally, many governments across the continent have relied on foreign systems from global manufacturers such as Israel Aerospace Industries, Elbit Systems, General Atomics and commercial drone giant Shenzhen DJI Innovations.

While the technology is advanced, such systems often come at a high cost, involve complex supply chains, or raise concerns about data sovereignty and long-term system management.

As a result, policy makers are increasingly faced with a central question: can most of this capacity be produced, collected and maintained domestically?

For Nwachuku, the central thesis remains unchanged.

“Africa is developing faster than any other region, with new mines, refineries, and power plants popping up every month.

For Business Insider Africa’s Entrepreneur of the MonthThe rise of the company represents more than raising money quickly.

It shows a great desire among young Africans to compete in a sector previously dominated by China, Israel and Western investors; and to reposition Africa not as a consumer of security technology, but as a producer of it.