Xelera Technologies, registered in Darmstadt in 2018, writes software that runs demanding workloads on hardware accelerators such as accelerator cards and SmartNICs. Its EIC project, DYRA, promised "as an industry first" a hardware-independent Open RAN distributed unit, the part of a 5G base station that does most of the processing. It said this mattered "because of the lack of established European suppliers", according to CORDIS.
The European Innovation Council granted €1,742,160 towards a €2.49 million project from January 2023 to June 2025. The report says Xelera built a working private 5G base station prototype and integrated acceleration hardware from NXP. Its central goal was to fit a function that today needs a high-performance server onto a single accelerator card. On that the report says the experiments "do not yet provide a definitive answer". Xelera presented DYRA at a 5G event in Dresden in June 2025. Its website now lists two products, Silva, an AI inference platform aimed at high-frequency trading, and Xelera Net SmartNIC software, and does not mention DYRA or 5G.
Company file
- Legal entity
- Xelera Technologies GmbH, HRB 97805 (Darmstadt)
- Registered
- May 2018
- CEO
- Felix Winterstein
- Products
- Xelera Silva (AI inference), Xelera Net (SmartNIC software)
- Investors
- Hi Inov Venture Capital, EIC Fund (2025)
- EIC project
- DYRA, 1 Jan 2023 to 30 Jun 2025
- EIC funding
- Grant first; EIC Fund equity in 2025
Where Xelera Stands Now
In October 2025 Xelera announced a strategic investment from Hi Inov Venture Capital and the EIC Fund to scale "across the European data-center market", with no amount given. Its news since then covers trading conferences in London, New York and Sydney, a Deutsche Börse open day and a partnership with Blackcore Technologies. Xelera says running Silva on Blackcore hardware gives "44× faster inference and under 1.6 µs latency" for trading firms. The June 2025 Dresden post called DYRA "the outcome of our contribution" to the German-French 5G-OPERA research project.
"The experiments done in this reporting period do not yet provide a definitive answer to whether this is possible."
Xelera Technologies, report to the EIC, covering January 2024 to June 2025The Technology: Accelerating the Base Station
The report describes three steps: turning the O-RAN Alliance specifications into an implementation plan, building a 5G test system from several vendors' servers, switches, radios and open-source software, and integrating NXP's acceleration platform. A smartphone could connect to the internet over the prototype network. The report itself says the prototype "does not constitute a unique result beyond the state of the art".
What the EIC Project Promised, and What CORDIS Shows
DYRA promised a high-performance, energy-efficient distributed unit that would give Europe an Open RAN supplier. The report ends with the core question unresolved and says "the second project year will be used to build out this use case", although it covers the period to the project's end in June 2025. No customer for DYRA has been announced. CORDIS still lists the project as signed.
- 5G test systemDeliveredPrototype operational.
- Hardware accelerationIntegratedNXP platform.
- Single-card DU performanceUnproven"Not yet definitive".
- Product on the marketNot listedAbsent from product pages.
The Money
Xelera's published accounts are balance sheets, which North Data shows only to paying users, so its revenue and losses are not public. The German federal funding register, as shown by North Data, lists grants for storage, machine learning and two 5G projects since 2019, including €527,564 for 5G-OPERA. Its share capital rose from €25,000 to €31,208 through capital increases in March and November 2025.
What Cannot Be Checked
Questions for the EIC
How much the EIC Fund invested in 2025, whether DYRA was sold or licensed to anyone, whether the single-card goal was reached and what Xelera earns are not public.
Why Europe Should Care
The EIC funded DYRA because Europe lacks Open RAN suppliers. The project ended with a prototype and an open question, and the EIC Fund's later investment backs Xelera's data centre and trading business rather than a 5G product.
What the project promised
An industry-first, hardware-independent Open RAN distributed unit from a European supplier.
What the record shows
A 5G prototype, an unresolved performance question, and a company now selling AI for trading.
The Verdict
Prototype built, focus moved
Xelera did the groundwork the EIC paid for, but the Open RAN product it promised is not on sale. The company survives and has new investors, on the strength of other products.
Xelera Technologies and the EIC have not been asked for comment for this article. It is based entirely on public records and published statements, linked throughout.
