Nigerian Startup Bets Big on Drones

Drones are rapidly reshaping modern warfare, and one African startup is betting it can build them at scale. Terra Industries is a Nigerian startup founded by CEO Nathan Nwachuku, with co-founder Maxwell Maduka. Backed by $34 million in seed funding from investors including

Palantir’s Joe Lonsdale, and Lux Capital, the company is developing both drones and the systems designed to counter them. The kind of war that Africa is fighting and, to be honest, the kind of war that most of the emerging markets are fighting is an asymmetric warfare against terrorism.

The doctrines are different. The kind of systems needed, are different. Um, you would need a lot more low cost, Um, intelligent centric systems. Um, you also need a system that can survive the

very harsh terrain especially of Africa, which a lot of the systems from the West are not built for. Now the company is expanding beyond Nigeria, opening its first international factory in Accra, Ghana's capital city. The facility will serve as its main regional manufacturing hub,

with plans to scale production from several hundred units today to as many as 50,000 drones and counter drone systems within two years. Nowhere has the effectiveness of battlefield drones been more apparent than the war in Ukraine, but they also have become

a critical part of conflicts across West Africa. Analysts say this marks a shift from traditional tactics to more advanced forms of warfare, and part of that shift is being driven by access to cheap, widely available technology. They have access to low cost, off the shelf components

that also provide them with tactical advantages, not only to carry out strikes against the critical infrastructure or military positions, but also to use them in their propaganda and media operations. According to ACLED, a conflict monitoring group that tracks violence

across Africa, the continent now accounts for the majority of Islamic State-linked activity, with more than two-thirds recorded there in the first half of 2025. And countering these attacks is becoming more complex. You need jammers, radars and more advanced equipment, and it

is somewhat costly in comparison to the low costs that these components or technologies are being used in the hands of non-state armed groups. That's where companies like Tara Industries sees an opportunity. The company says it has already tested some of these

systems with governments across West Africa. We are building out a regional network of factories, um, across the continent. Um, we are also starting to work with other emerging markets, you know, like in Latin America and Saudi and,

the Middle East. Uh, because essentially the, the, this sort of, you know, threats that we are facing here has become very, um, um, transferable across the emerging markets For Terra Industries, the next challenge is scaling.

The company says it plans to raise a larger funding round in the coming months, as it expands manufacturing across Africa and other emerging markets.