Transcelestial

Transcelestial

StatusActiveWebsitehttps://transcelestial.com/Vertical(s)Telecommunications, ComputingLatest Funding RoundSeries A2Year founded2016HeadquartersSingaporeActive inAustralia, Japan, South Korea, United Arab Emirates, United States, Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Taiwan, Mongolia, Hong KongSpun of fromEntrepreneur FirstTechnology Readiness LevelDeployment (TRL 7-8)

Transcelestial is a Singapore-based startup commericalising last-mile "wireless fibre" communications, using laser communications.

Technology

Transcelestial's solution is based on laser communications as an alternative to fibre or 5G. This system can be deployed more rapidly and cheaply than conventional communication solutions, as no electromagnetic spectrum allocation is necessary and no physical lines have to be laid.

Possible applications include:

• 4G/5G fronthaul/backhaul
• Large campus connectivity
• Last-mile expansion
• Alternative to dark fiber

Traction

By 2026, Transcelestial's laser terminal will fly onboard Europe’s first low-orbit open 6G research satellite. This will be accompanied by a ground station deployed in Catalonia, enabling real-time space-to-ground laser communication experiments.

Accolades

Transcelestial has won numerous industry and global awards such as Most Frontier Company by Asiastar10x10, SPIFFY San Andreas Award for Most Disruptive Technology by Telecom Council, Forbes 30 Under 30 to their CTO Dr. Mohammad Danesh, Edge 35 Under 35 to their CEO Rohit Jha, The Most Ambitious Start-Up in Photonics Award by The Optical Society (OSA).

Funding

In November 2025, the startup raised a US$9.7M from MPower Partners, Seeds Capital, and Kickstart Ventures.

In June 2025, Transcelestial closed a Series A+ funding round co-led by NTT Finance and Paspalis Capital.

Transcelestial raised $2.5 million their seed round in Septemeber 2018, led by Wavemaker Partners and Seeds Capital.

Funding History
Investor	Round
MPower Partners	Series A2
Seeds Capital	Series A2
Kickstart Ventures	Series A2
NTT Finance	Series A+
Paspalis Capital	Series A+
Golden Egg Ventures	Series A+
In-Q-Tel	Series A+
Beyond Earth Technologies	Series A+
Wavemaker Partners	Seed
Seeds Capital	Seed
Airtree Ventures	Seed
500 Startups	Seed

Edit Funding History

Note: This list is community-maintained and may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies.

History

The start-up, founded by Rohit Jha and Mohammad Danesh, was born out of Entrepreneur First, the London and Singapore-headquartered venture builder.

One of the first public demonstrations of Transcelestial's technology was a joint project with SK Telecom in South Korea and the Telecom Infra Project's Ecosystem Acceleration Center Initiative. Transcelestial's wireless fibre optics technology was used to upgrade the backbone Internet connectivity of a major public library near Seoul, reportedly improving bandwidth by 20 times its existing speed.