Monday’s digest.

Solar for more

• A little over a week after announcing its foray into VC in Malaysia through 500-backed agro-tech startup Braintree Technologies, Petronas Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Petronas, has made its second investment here in renewable energy and fellow 500-backed startup SOLS Energy.
• The company, which has a first-of-its-kind academy training disenfranchised youth in solar installations, is also a graduate of last year’s Petronas FutureTech accelerator program.

• “Our mission is to connect people and businesses to real sustainable energy solutions. We believe solar PV system adoption is at an inflection point in Malaysia,” founder and CEO Raj Ridvan says of the investment while noting the solar energy industry in Malaysia and Southeast Asia is still very much untapped.
• A sister outfit of UNESC0-winning non-profit SOLS 24/7, SOLS Energy hit a milestone supplying over 1-megawatt of solar panels in Malaysia, which in turn has also saved over 1.3 million pounds of CO2 and contributed to the planting of more than 16,000 tree seedlings.

To infinity and beyond

• Transcelestial, the 500-backed and Singapore-based space-tech firm, has announced it has raised US$9.6 million in a Series A round.

• With fresh funding to deploy, Transcelestial will focus on scaling CENTAURI, a mass-produced device that leverages the company’s wireless laser technology to create an integrated distribution network between buildings, traditional cell towers, street-level poles and other physical infrastructure.
• So far, Transcelestial has expanded to five countries and is working with leading telecommunication companies to implement its technologies.
• “With the Series A capital raise, we are now working actively to get Centauri in the hands of customers globally within the next 12 months,” says Dr. Mohammad Danesh, CTO and co-founder.

Malaysia, represent

• 500-backed marketplace for on-demand gigs GoGet will be flying the Malaysian flag high as it competes for the grand prize of US$50,000 against startups from around the globe at the final AIM 2020 Global Startups Champions League later this year.
• Prior to this, GoGet emerged first in the selection round against 10 other startups for a chance to represent Malaysia’s startup ecosystem.

• The competition is part of a series of global roadshows under the AIM event, a global stage that takes place across more than 100 countries to discover startups that have a huge potential in expanding and penetrating global markets.
• In a separate development, GoGet has partnered with Ikano Centres, IKEA Southeast Asia’s exclusive shopping center partner for stores across the region, to make its entire portfolio of shopping centers in Malaysia available through the GoGet app.

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500 Startups is a venture capital firm on a mission to discover and back the world’s most talented entrepreneurs, help them create successful companies at scale, and build thriving global ecosystems. In Southeast Asia, 500 Startups invests through the pioneering 500 Southeast Asia family of funds. The 500 Southeast Asia funds have backed over 240 companies across multiple sectors from internet to consumer to deep technology. It continues to connect founders with capital, expertise and powerful regional and global networks to help them succeed.

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