The merger creates a single-stack, hardware-agnostic solution designed for ports, factories, and defence installations.
5G companies Firecell and Accelleran today announce a merger to create a complete private 5G solution for industrial autonomy, critical infrastructure, and defence connectivity.
The merger is backed by a €7.9 million investment round led by existing investors Matterwave Ventures, BPI France, Qbic, and Cogito Capital Partners.
The merger brings together Firecell’s core network and NMS (Network Management System) with Accelleran’s programmable RAN, management, and AI capabilities into a pre-integrated sovereign private 5G solution. The company’s offering targets ports, factories, defence installations, and logistics facilities, where connectivity is critical for operations.
The industrial sector is moving from monitoring equipment to running fully autonomous operations. Robotic arms, AGVs, drones, and remote-controlled machinery require deterministic connectivity – a dropped connection, for example, can halt production and expose workers to safety risks.
Private 5G addresses this, but deploying it today typically means assembling components from multiple vendors, each with its own release cycle, support path, and integration requirements.
Firecell’s new platform delivers:
- Global spectrum coverage: support for all FDD and TDD bands, ensuring seamless deployments worldwide.
- High-performance connectivity: sub-millisecond latency supporting thousands of concurrent IoT devices with dedicated network slicing and Voice over NR and mission-critical push-to-talk capabilities.
- AI-driven network intelligence: real-time optimisation of network capacity and energy through programmable xApps and rApps intelligent controllers100 per cent.
- European-developed software: full on-premise deployment, providing full data autonomy and sovereignty for defence and critical infrastructure.
The combined company will operate under the Firecell name and brand with Claude Seyrat as designated CEO and will double its engineering and commercial footprint, with teams across France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Poland, and deployments in Europe, the United States, and Asia.
“Industrial operations are deploying robots, drones, and autonomous vehicles at scale, and they need predictable connectivity, not a patchwork of vendors,” said Claude Seyrat, CEO of Firecell.
“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.
This merger gives them exactly that: one efficient, hardware-agnostic offering so they can focus on delivering high-value applications and ROI to their customers, not on integration work.”
“We’re witnessing a fast-growing private 5G demand across ports, airports, mines, defence installations, and utilities,” said Robert Gallenberg, Partner at Matterwave Ventures.
“This merger creates a credible European alternative – a complete, sovereign platform that system integrators can build a private 5G practice around. The single-stack approach, combined scale, and five-country footprint positions Firecell as an upcoming European leader in this market.”
The transaction is subject to customary closing conditions, including shareholder approvals, regulatory clearances, and execution of definitive agreements. Completion is expected by the end of Q1 2026.