A 36-year-old sci-fi enthusiast left his banking career to launch a deep space startup that has secured $24 million in funding.

Rohit Jha calls himself a "huge nerd."

In his early years, he cultivated a profound affection for computers, space, and eventually science fiction.

Jha spent his youth coding games on a used computer, stargazing through a school rooftop telescope, and devouring the science fiction writings of Isaac Asimov.

The 36-year-old is the co-founder and CEO of Transcelestial, a 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, creating a fiber-like communications network.

The company has raised approximately $24 million and has the support of notable investors such as Airbus Ventures, Wavemaker, and In-Q-Tel.

For the love of sci-fi

Jamshedpur, once a small city, is now a major industrial center in India where Jha grew up.

In high school, Jha was selected to participate in the exclusive National Physics Olympiad program, where he was introduced to advanced concepts such as general relativity, string theory, and quantum mechanics.

He studied electrical and electronic engineering at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore on scholarship after high school. During his time there, he worked on significant projects such as Singapore's first space program and the country's first indigenous satellite.

During his high school and university years, Jha's passion for science fiction and space engineering intensified.

Journey to fix the internet

Jha, after graduating from university in 2011, began working in high-frequency trading at the Royal Bank of Canada. However, while in banking, Jha discovered a problem.

"In my role in electronic trading, I finally realized why the internet sucked. It's all about optimizing latency between the world's trading centers, such as New York to Chicago, Chicago to London, and determining who has the fastest latencies."

Most of the world's internet originates from a massive network of fiber optic cables that are laid beneath the ocean surface, connecting continents worldwide. These submerged cables can cost billions to install and are susceptible to disruptions due to oceanic activity, as stated.

The cost of providing internet access can be high, so companies prioritize investing in cities with a higher potential return on investment.

Jha stated that the issue is an economics game, with misaligned incentives across the board. While "tier one" cities like San Francisco or New York City receive priority, less developed or remote villages may not have the same level of access.

The internet will always exist unless we are wiped out, and data will continue to grow, which means the divide between the haves and have nots will persist unless there is a significant shift in how the internet is accessed.

Banking on himself

After several years in the job, Jha came to the conclusion that banking wasn't his calling.

He was fortunate because he was part of the top-notch team in the company, consisting of exceptional individuals he had ever worked with, but there were instances when he felt like just another worker in the organization.

He grew up with a love for sci-fi and envisioned a "utopia" where he was confident that by the time he grew up, humans would have transportation to the moon and Mars.

He stated that he was frustrated with living in a world where the future that was promised had not been delivered, and he did not want to continue living in that state.

In 2015, Jha quit his job, took a year off to travel, and started Transcelestial shortly after realizing that he'd rather work on things where he was sitting at the edge of the unknown.

Big aims

In 2016, Jha founded Transcelestial after meeting his co-founder Danesh through Entrepreneur First, a Singapore-based startup accelerator.

"On day one, I met Danesh and he was the person I needed. We went to an Indian restaurant and had an early biryani meal. We kept discussing and had a second biryani meal. Eventually, it was clear that we wanted to start this company together."

Jha stated that after extensive discussion, their goal was to establish "the largest telecom company in space for the next few decades" and they believed that using lasers was the most effective method to achieve this objective.

"For decades, lasers have been running through fiber optic cables, powering our homes, offices, 5g data centers, and everything. However, we have now taken that laser from inside a fiber and run it wirelessly."

Jha stated that although wireless technologies can achieve the speed of fiber, the cost and deployment speed are not comparable. This can significantly reduce the time required to set up internet for homes, villages, and towns, from years and months to days and weeks.

The company's shoebox-sized device, Centauri, was deployed at the Coachella and Stagecoach music festivals in 2024, providing enhanced internet access for T-Mobile users who attended the festivals, according to a company statement.

Transcelestial aims to expand beyond its earthly telecommunications business and focus on space exploration.

The company plans to create a network of small satellites in low earth orbit to connect continents globally through its laser network, as stated in a company statement.

Jha stated that instead of dropping a fiber cable from orbit using lasers, the cable will be replaced with a laser coming down into a city, which will serve as the backbone for the entire city.

Jha and his team are ultimately looking to build the next frontier.

"Transcelestial is working on expanding in deep space and building the infrastructure needed for automation and possibly even human settlement in the next couple of decades."

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