An ambitious plan to bring you blazing fast internet – by shooting lasers from space

Transcelestial’s wireless laser terminal

Lasers make your speedy internet connection possible. Every day, massive amounts of information are beamed through undersea cables that connect continents. Significant damage to these light-filled tunnels could disrupt the internet.

Transcelestial, a startup in Singapore, wants to unleash the true potential of laser-based communications by freeing digital information from the shackles of land – just like how the Wright brothers helped humans take flight.

To do that, it is developing technology that will beam data skywards to satellites, which will redirect the laser to where it’s needed. Cables will be removed from the equation.

The end result is a space laser network that could reach record-breaking internet speeds of a few hundred gigabits per second, or hundreds of times faster than current consumer broadband internet.

Today, the firm received a boost to its ambition. It has raised a US$1.83 million seed funding round led by Wavemaker Partners and SEEDS Capital. Other noteworthy investors include 500 Startups, AirTree Ventures, and Y Combinator CEO Michael Seibel, who’s also known for starting video-streaming site Twitch, which Amazon bought for US$970 million.

Tech in Asia interviewed Transcelestial CEO Rohit Jha to find out more about the company and its technology.

It’s interesting that Michael has invested in you guys. What’s the story behind that?

CEO Rohit Jha / Photo credit: Transcelestial

So this was the week before the 2017 Formula One weekend in Singapore, and we were in fundraising mode. We already had some really good names on board. But there still was some portion of the round left.

Of course, I knew about Y Combinator. But I didn’t know Michael was running it. So Paul Santos of Wavemaker introduced us at a pre-Formula One party in the house of one of Wavemaker’s limited partners. I casually pitched Michael a one-liner about what we’re doing and he literally said, “Okay, I need to sit down for this and hear more.”

So we talked for very long about a wide range of topics – the state of telecommunications, the cube satellite and its potential, laser communications versus existing wireless networks, and the growth of low-Earth-orbit rocket companies. [Mohammad] Danesh (CTO of Transcelestial) and I are quite logical and confident about figuring out what works and what doesn’t, and where humanity’s future should or will be.

So we can be straightforward and truthful about our views even if it comes across as blunt. He liked that, I suppose. Since he hadn’t done any previous investments in this part of the world, he wasn’t sure about us. But towards the end, he did offer to put some money in.