Deal creates a pre-integrated core and Open RAN platform backed by €7.9m, targeting system integrators and sovereign deployments
French private 5G specialist Firecell and Belgian Open RAN vendor Accelleran have agreed to merge, forming a combined company focused on delivering a pre-integrated private 5G platform for industrial and “mission-critical” use cases. The transaction, backed by a €7.9 million investment round led by Matterwave Ventures, BPI France, Qbic and Cogito Capital Partners, is expected to complete by the end of the first quarter of 2026, subject to usual approvals.
The merged entity will operate under the Firecell name, led by CEO Claude Seyrat, and will combine Firecell’s 5G core network and network management system with Accelleran’s programmable RAN, including its CU/DU stack and RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC). The aim is to offer system integrators a single, hardware-agnostic reference solution rather than requiring them to assemble components from multiple suppliers.
Private 5G has gained traction across ports, factories, airports, mines and defence installations, but deployments often involve stitching together radios, cores and management layers from different vendors. This can complicate integration, support and release management, particularly as projects scale from single sites to multisite rollouts.
“Industrial operations are deploying robots, drones, and autonomous vehicles at scale, and they need predictable connectivity, not a patchwork of vendors,” said Fiercely CEO Claude Seyrat. “As private 5G projects evolve toward multi-site deployments – smaller in scope but growing in number – system integrators need a single reference solution they can standardise on.”
Industrial automation
The combined platform is positioned squarely at industrial automation and autonomy use cases. The companies say it supports sub-millisecond latency, network slicing and mission-critical features such as Voice over NR and push-to-talk, alongside programmable xApps and rApps for network optimisation and energy management.
While ultra-low latency claims in private 5G are common and overplayed sometimes, the focus here is on deterministic connectivity for robotic arms, automated guided vehicles (AGVs), drones and remote-controlled machinery, where a dropped connection can halt operations or create safety risks.
A somewhat cheeky aspect of the announcement is its emphasis on European sovereignty. The companies describe the stack as 100% European-developed software, deployable fully on-premises to meet data autonomy requirements in sectors such as defence and critical infrastructure. In a market where US and Asian vendors are ever present in the 5G supply chain, the merger is being framed as the creation of a credible European alternative in the private 5G segment.
Robert Gallenberg, partner at Matterwave Ventures, said the deal “creates a credible European alternative – a complete, sovereign platform that system integrators can build a private 5G practice around”.
Under the planned model, system integrators and telecoms partners will act as the primary route to market. They will be able to procure core or RAN components independently, allowing the platform to be deployed either as a full stack or integrated into existing infrastructure. The companies say pre-integration will enable deployments in weeks rather than months, with a single support and release cycle.
The merged organisation will double in size, with teams across France, Belgium, the UK, Germany and Poland, and existing deployments in Europe, the US and Asia. Existing product lines from both companies will continue to be supported. The announcement comes ahead of Mobile World Congress, where Firecell said it plans to present the integrated solution.
