venture capital

News In Brief, venture capital

Terra Industries Secures $22 Million Follow On Round to Expand Autonomous Security Systems

Terra Industries, a Nigerian defence technology startup, has raised an additional $22 million in funding, extending its earlier $11.8 million round and bringing total funding in the round to $34 million. The follow on investment was led by Lux Capital, with participation from 8VC, Nova Global, Silent Ventures, Belief Capital, Tofino Capital and Resilience17 Capital, founded by Flutterwave Chief Executive Officer Olugbenga Agboola. The round closed less than a month after the company announced its initial raise. Terra said the new capital will support expanded manufacturing, wider deployments across Nigeria and other African countries, and the hiring of senior engineering and business leaders in Africa, London and San Francisco. Founded in 2024 by Nathan Nwachuku, 22, and Maxwell Maduka, 24, Terra builds autonomous drones, sentry towers and unmanned ground vehicles connected through its proprietary software platform, ArtemisOS. The system enables real time monitoring and coordinated response across land, air and maritime environments. The company said it currently secures infrastructure assets valued at about $11 billion and holds contracts worth tens of millions of dollars across multiple African markets. Africa accounts for roughly 30 percent of global critical mineral reserves and invests about $100 billion annually in infrastructure. However, much of that infrastructure sits in remote or volatile regions. Terra positions its locally manufactured systems as an alternative to imported security technologies that can be costly to maintain and exposed to supply chain risks. The funding reflects continued investor interest in African hardware and software ventures addressing security alongside industrial growth.

News In Brief, venture capital

Delta40 Closes $20 Million Fund to Build Early-Stage Startups Across Africa

Delta40 has closed a $20 million fund to invest in and co build early stage startups across Africa, backing a model that combines seed capital with hands on operational support. Founded in 2021 by Lyndsay Holley Handler, the firm operates as both investor and co founder. It writes initial cheques of between $100,000 and $500,000, then works closely with founding teams on product development, commercial strategy and governance. The new capital will allow Delta40 to expand its studio activities in Kenya and Nigeria while increasing follow on capacity for its portfolio. More than half of the fund comes from commercial investors, according to the firm, reflecting growing appetite for structured early stage exposure despite tighter funding conditions across the continent. In total, 54 investors from 13 countries participated, including development finance institutions such as FMO and the Soros Economic Development Fund, alongside foundations, family offices and 25 startup founders. Fourteen backers are Africa based. Delta40 focuses on energy and mobility, agriculture and food systems, and financial technology, with plans to integrate artificial intelligence tools across its companies. It has backed 16 startups to date, including logistics platform Lori and solar fintech company SunFi. The raise signals a shift toward more involved early stage investing in Africa, where capital alone often does not address execution gaps. As funding becomes more selective, venture builders that combine local presence with institutional backing may play a larger role in shaping the next generation of African companies.

News In Brief, venture capital

Hashgraph Ventures Pledges $1 Million to Hedera Africa Hackathon

Hashgraph Ventures, a venture capital firm based in Abu Dhabi, has pledged $1 million to the next Hedera Africa Hackathon, adding fresh backing to one of the continent’s largest Web3 focused developer programmes. The pledge comes through the wider Hedera ecosystem. Hashgraph Ventures, part of the Hashgraph Association, is a Swiss non profit that supports training, certification, and innovation programmes for Hedera powered solutions. The firm said it backs early stage ventures and projects building real world tools and solutions across blockchain, artificial intelligence, and deep technology. Additionally, organisers said the new commitment takes equity investment commitments tied to the hackathon to $2 million, following participation from United Gulf Financial Services (UGFS). Alongside, they also stated that the next edition will run with a $1 million prize pool, contributed by The Hashgraph Association and the Exponential Science Foundation. By way of background, the first Hedera Africa Hackathon ran between August and October last year, using a hybrid format across more than 20 African cities. Organisers said it drew 13,000 developers and produced 1,300 project submissions. During the programme, teams built Hedera powered concepts across sectors including finance, healthcare, telecoms, sustainability, agriculture, and manufacturing, with attention on how AI can work with areas like IoT, robotics, and quantum computing. Commenting on the pledge, Kamal Youssefi, president of The Hashgraph Association, said the commitment reflects support for scalable adoption of distributed ledger technology, and follows what he described as strong outcomes from the earlier programme.