Nigerian defence-tech company Terra Industries has launched a commercial division to sell its autonomous security systems directly to…
Nigerian defence-tech company Terra Industries has launched a commercial division to sell its autonomous security systems directly to privately owned infrastructure operators, expanding beyond the government and military contracts that have defined its business since 2024.
The new unit will serve companies that own power plants, pipelines, mines, ports and refineries across Africa, the Gulf, South America and South Asia, sectors the company says lose billions of dollars annually to theft, sabotage, organised crime and operational inefficiencies. Its autonomous air and ground systems will provide perimeter security, threat detection and large-scale inspections, coordinated through ArtemisOS, its proprietary operating platform.
“Government and military work will always be central to Terra,” said co-founder and CEO Nathan Nwachuku. “But the commercial division gives us a constant flywheel of partnerships across industries, and it makes us a stronger business because it puts our technology to work for the companies actually building infrastructure across the Global South.”
Terra has hired Todd Stiefler as Director of Commercial to lead the division. According to the company, Stiefler previously served as VP, Enterprise at wearables firm WHOOP, where he led business-to-business growth across government, defence, and corporate wellness accounts. Before that, Terra says he worked in business development at Palantir, building go-to-market teams for Apollo and FedStart, two of the company’s programmes aimed at defence-tech and dual-use start-ups.
Terra says his background positions him to open commercial markets in tightly regulated sectors and turn early-stage technology partnerships into deployed systems.
Todd Stiefler
The commercial division builds on infrastructure Terra says it already protects across multiple African countries, including power plants and mines, with assets valued at approximately $11bn. The company has not disclosed independently audited figures for this valuation.
Also read: Terra Industries names former SpaceX director Ben MacWilliams as VP of Strategy
The launch comes just over a week after Terra closed a $52m seed round, its largest funding to date, backed by 8VC, Silent Ventures, Nova Global, Belief Capital, SV Angel and new investor Norleo Space Investments.
The company, founded by Nwachuku and Maxwell Maduka, has said it is on track to reach more than $100m in contract bookings by the end of the year and recently opened its first office outside Africa in London.
With the commercial division now in place, Terra is positioning private capital, not just state contracts, as the next driver of growth for autonomous security systems across the Global South.
