Terra Industries landed a $52 million seed round in August 2024, the largest of its kind on the continent. Founded that same year by Nathan Nwachuku and Maxwell Maduka, the Lagos-based defence tech startup builds autonomous drones, sentry towers, and crewless ground vehicles, all running on its proprietary ArtemisOS platform. For a sector still finding its footing, Terra's raise felt like proof of concept.
But Terra is the exception, not the rule. Most businesses across Africa's tech ecosystem are built around using technology, not creating it. A fintech can launch a payments product without manufacturing the phone its customers use. A logistics startup can run entirely on cloud infrastructure built and operated elsewhere. The underlying hardware already exists. These companies simply apply it to local problems.
Deep tech works differently. Companies in this space, which the United Nations Development Programme defines as technology rooted in scientific discovery, engineering innovation, and intensive research and development, have to bring that technology in-house. That means designing and testing prototypes, sourcing specialised components, hiring researchers and engineers, and accessing labs or manufacturing facilities. The build cycle is longer, the capital requirements are heavier, and the margin for error is smaller.
Those pressures hit harder when your supply chain starts at customs. A 2021 baseline study commissioned by the Nigerian Communications Commission found that 84 percent of hardware components used in Nigeria's telecoms sector are imported, covering everything from printed circuit boards to semiconductors and antennas. For hardware founders, that means shipping costs, foreign exchange exposure, and import duties stack up before a single product reaches a customer.
Chukwuemeka Afigbo, who convenes the Africa Deep Tech Foundation, says hardware builders in the community have been vocal about this. "The hardware folks would tell you there's a lot of support they need that they haven't necessarily seen," he told TechCabal in October, pointing specifically to import costs as a recurring concern. The infrastructure to support deep tech ambition exists in pockets. Whether policy can move fast enough to match it is a different question.
Originally published by TechCabal.