We regularly highlight the success stories of start-ups in our #HYDROVERSE ecosystem, showcasing their progress and achievements. Whether through participation in our accelerator and incubator programs or engagement at key events such as the HYDROVERSE CONVENTION, each start-up plays a vital role in shaping the ecosystem and deserves recognition.
Stargate Hydrogen is featured as part of this new series, with CEO Marko Virkebau sharing insights into the start-up’s journey.
Marko, please pitch your start-up story.
Marko Virkebau: Stargate Hydrogen is a European electrolyser technology company developing high-efficiency hydrogen production systems for energy-intensive industries such as steel, fertilisers, and chemicals.
Since 2021, we have been improving electrolyser performance and reducing system costs through proprietary ceramic catalysts and patented stack design. With more than €50 million in funding and IPCEI status, we scaled our manufacturing capacity to 140 MW annually. Our customers and partners include Fortum, Repsol, ABB, and Utilitas, among others, across Europe, Middle East, and India.
Our goal is clear: Enable the industry of tomorrow with affordable green hydrogen.
What inspired you to found a company?
We founded the company after recognizing that electrification alone will not be enough to combat climate change. Many of the world’s largest emitting industries, such as steelmaking, fertilizers, and chemicals, are hard to electrify and require a different solution.
We believe that affordable green hydrogen is essential to decarbonizing these hard-to-abate sectors. However, widespread adoption will only happen if the cost of green hydrogen becomes competitive.
The conviction that lowering the price of green hydrogen can unlock large-scale industrial decarbonization, is what motivated us to start the company.
Which market or technological assumption did you reconsider in the process?
The energy transition is not just a technology race; it’s a systems integration challenge.
The companies that win will master technology + infrastructure + finance + policy simultaneously. It’s a complex sector, and you need to find the right place in the value chain and the right partners.
What was your biggest success until now?
There have been many successes along the way, but the most recent one that comes to mind is our collaboration with Fortum. Fortum is a well-known Nordic energy company and one of the cleanest energy producers in Europe with ambitious environmental targets.
They chose Stargate Hydrogen in a highly competitive process, the decision was based on our innovative technology, which had already been deployed and commissioned at a similar project in Estonia.
The system produced its first hydrogen at the end of December 2025, and commissioning will be completed soon. Seeing our technology move from innovation to deployment with a major Nordic energy company has been a rewarding milestone.
Which piece of advice given to you do you remember most vividly?
Don’t get discouraged when things are not going your way! Developing hydrogen technology is not easy, and it requires patience and consistency.
What advice would you give to other founders who are just starting out in the hydrogen market?
Don’t underestimate how early hydrogen adoption is; there is still a lot to happen in the next decade. Hydrogen is full of hype cycles, but real adoption moves slower than expected. Build your strategy for endurance and ensure you celebrate small wins along the way with your team.
What is your next big step?
The answer is simple: Scale our products. We are now working on our industrial sized line of products. Starting with a 5MW stack called Starbase and a 10MW modular system called Aurora. The real demand, and where we can make the most impact in decarbonization is in larger industrial projects that require multi-MW systems.
We are confident that by the end of 2028, together with our local partner, we will have a system deployed on the Aland island in Finland.
You attended the HYDROVERSE CONVENTION and also won the HYDROVERSE Best Pitch Award in 2024. What have you gained from these experiences?
It was valuable to be part of an event that is narrowly focused on hydrogen technology. Most conversations were highly valuable and until today I am still in touch with many contacts that I made there.
What connections were you able to make?
Other H2 tech companies, project developers, and investors. Exactly what I was looking for when I first decided to attend the event.
What needs to be done to further advance hydrogen and green energy innovations in the market?
The answer is simple yet not easy to carry out: to advance hydrogen innovations we need a combination of cost reduction, deployable solutions, increase in real demand, build infrastructure, reduce project risk, and alignment with police makers. This combination will drive technology.
Thank you, Marko!
About Stargate Hydrogen
Stargate Hydrogen is a European electrolyser technology company focused on delivering reliable hydrogen production systems for industrial deployment. The company develops alkaline electrolysers for long-term operation in energy-intensive industries which are transitioning away from grey hydrogen, such as refining, ammonia and steel.
Backed by committed investors and IPCEI status, Stargate Hydrogen is trusted by clients such as Fortum, Utilitas, ABB, and Rockfin, among others across Europe, Turkey, and India. Designed using standard parts and with EPCs in mind, their systems are tested by independent Institutions, to provide accurate performance data and certification-ready standards.
By prioritizing robustness, transparency, and long-term partnership, Stargate Hydrogen eliminates technical uncertainty and enables confident deployment from FEED through commissioning and beyond.