Trump buddy, Joe Lonsdale, invests in Nigerian drone startup Terrahaptix

One of President Donald Trump’s loudest and richest supporters, Joe Lonsdale, has led investors to raise $11.7 million for Terrahaptix, a Nigerian startup that builds defence drones to bolster security systems across Africa.

Lonsdale is also the founder of Palantir Technologies.

Terrahaptix was co-founded by 22-year-old Nathan Nwachukwu and 24-year-old Maxwell Maduka in 2024 to tackle terrorism and insecurity crises assailing the continent.

Nwachukwu said Terrahaptix secured $11.7 million in a funding round led by 8VC, a company founded by Mr Lonsdale.

Other companies that invested in Terrahaptix include Valor Equity Partners, Lux Capital, SV Angel, Leblon Capital GmbH, Silent Ventures LLC, Nova Global, and angel investor Melya Malka.

A non-executive director at Palantir and key figure at 8VC, Alex Moore, joined Terrahaptix’s board of directors last year, the startup said in a statement yesterday.

Terrahaptix has its factory in Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, where it builds drones, sentry towers, and unmanned ground vehicles to detect threats to infrastructure assets and immediately alert security outfits to the situation.

The startup had previously secured contracts valued at over $12 million guarding infrastructure assets in Africa as of August 2025.

“Africa is industrialising faster than any other region, with new mines, refineries, and power plants emerging every month. But none of that progress will matter if we don’t solve the continent’s greatest Achilles’ heel, which is insecurity and terrorism,” Nwachuku was quoted as saying by Bloomberg in a report.

He said Terrahaptix’s mission is “to give Africa the technological edge needed for resource protection and counterterrorism.”

The new funding, the startup said, will be used to expand its operations across Africa. Terrahaptix said it provided security solutions to Nigeria’s hydropower facilities and Ghana’s gold and lithium mining factories.

“Today, Terra has millions of dollars in commercial and government contracts. With this funding, we will ramp up defense production across Africa and scale our data intelligence OS,” he added.

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