Rohit Jha, 36, is the co-founder and CEO of Transcelestial.
Courtesy of Rohit Jha
Rohit Jha calls himself a 'nerd'.
He developed a deep love for computers, space, and ultimately science fiction in his early years.
Jha spent much of his childhood and adolescence programming games on a used computer, stargazing through a telescope on the roof of his school, and reading the works of science fiction writer Isaac Asimov.
Today, the 36-year-old is the co-founder and CEO of Transcelestial, a space technology and communications startup that aims to make the Internet more accessible by developing and deploying a network of lasers between cell towers, street-level poles, and more. A fiber-like communications network.
Rohit Jha with Transcelestial team members.
Courtesy of Rohit Jha
To date, the company has raised about $24 million, and is backed by names like Airbus Ventures, Wavemaker, and In-Q-Tel.
For the love of science fiction
Jha grew up in Jamshedpur, a small city that has since become a major industrial center in India.
While in high school, Jha was selected to participate in the highly selective National Physics Olympiad program, which introduced him to more advanced concepts such as general relativity, string theory, and quantum mechanics.
After high school, he moved to Singapore to attend Nanyang Technological University on a scholarship, where he studied electrical and electronic engineering. During that time, Jha says he worked on several major projects, including Singapore's first space program, as well as the country's first indigenous project. Satellite.
Throughout his high school and college days, Jha's love for science fiction and space engineering rose to its highest levels.
A trip to fix the Internet
After graduating from university in 2011, Jha went into banking and worked in high-frequency trading at the Royal Bank of Canada. While working in banking, Jha discovered a problem.
“I finally realized why the Internet failed banking,” he said. “As part of my role in electronic trading, you're really looking to improve latency between global trading centres. It's huge how quickly you can get from New York to Chicago, from Chicago to London… and who has the fastest latency.”
He discovered that most of the world's Internet comes from a vast network of fiber-optic cables laid across the ocean floor, which transmit data between continents globally. He said that laying these cables under the sea can cost billions of dollars, and they often lead to bottlenecks and breakage as a result of ocean activity.
In particular, because the process of getting the Internet to people can be very expensive, companies responsible for getting connectivity into people's hands are often motivated “to invest only in those cities where they have a high enough chance of making a return on investment,” as He said. .
“So it boils down to an economic game, and incentives are wildly inconsistent across the board,” Jha said. While “tier one” cities like San Francisco or New York City get priority, less developed markets or outlying villages may not get the same access.
“There will never be a future where the Internet never exists unless we are eliminated…data will always grow,” meaning the gap between the haves and have-nots will also continue to widen, unless there is a change in how the Internet is provided, he said. .
Banking on the same
After several years of work, Jha realized that banking was not for him.
“I was lucky, because it was the most carefully selected team in the entire company, some of the best people I've ever worked with in my life — very impressive people — but … there were many times where I felt like a cog in the entire organization,” he said. .
Additionally, having grown up with a love of science fiction, he said he painted a “utopia” of sorts — “a world in which I was sure that by the time I grew up, we would have transportation to the moon and Mars.”
“I realized that we were still living in a world where we were promised a future that did not come true, and that was very depressing, and I did not want to continue living in it,” he said.
Jha finally decided to leave after realizing: “You only have one life, and (I'd rather) work on things where I'm (sitting) on the edge of the unknown.” So, in 2015, he quit his job, took a year off to travel, and started Transcelestial soon after.
Big goals
In December 2016, Transcelestial was created after Jha met his co-founder Muhammad Danish through a Singapore-based accelerator called Entrepreneur First.
“On the first day, I met Danish and he was exactly the person I needed,” Jha said. “So we went to (an Indian restaurant), had an early biryani meal, kept discussing, had a second biryani meal, kept discussing, and eventually it became clear that we wanted to start this company together.”
Transcelestial was founded in 2016 by co-founders Rohit Jha and Mohammed Danish.
Courtesy of Rohit Jha
After much discussion, they aimed to create “the largest possible communications company in space over the next few decades,” Jha said. They decided that the best way to do this would be through a laser.
“Lasers have the ability to carry data… For decades, these lasers have been running over fiber optic cables, and that's what powers our homes, our offices, 5G data centers, everything,” he said. “What we did was we took that laser from inside the fiber and ran it wirelessly.”
“This means they get the speed of fiber, but with the price economics and speed of deployment of wireless technologies. We can dramatically reduce years and months, to days and weeks when setting up Internet not just for a home, but even for a village. Or a town,” Jha said.
Transcelestial's Centauri provides wireless laser communications.
Courtesy of Rohit Jha
In 2024, the company deployed its lasers at the Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals through its shoebox-sized device called Centauri, providing enhanced internet access to T-Mobile users attending the festivals, according to the company. statement.
In addition to its terrestrial communications business, Transcelestial has its sights set on a bigger goal: space.
The company aims to develop “a constellation of small satellites stationed in low Earth orbit, allowing its laser network not only to travel across cities but upwards to connect continents globally,” according to the company. statement.
“What we can do is drop a fiber cable from orbit using a laser. So instead of a cable, there will be a laser coming down into the city, and that will become the backbone of the entire city,” Jha said.
Jha and his team are ultimately looking to build the next frontier.
“As humanity expands, we need high-speed communications and connectivity in deep space,” he said. Transcelestial is working to “expand into deep space and build the infrastructure needed…for automation and perhaps even for human settlements in the next two decades.”
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