After 2002, investment in cleantech took a nose dive. That can be attributed to the pre-2002 rush to get in on fuel cells, and then the fuel cell industry's penchant to over promise and under deliver, most notably Ballard Power Systems. No more. With the resurgence of cleantech investment in the past four years, fuel cells have also benefited, in large part because the focus has shifted from larger-scale applications like commercial vehicles to smaller-scale applications. Stationary applications have also made a serious dent in what had traditionally been seen as a mobility-driven business. As my client Horizon Fuel Cell likes to say: "Think big, start small". Instead of commercial-grade vehicle applications, they started with a stroke of marketing genius - an on-board PEM and hydrogen tank... for a toy car, the H-racer. They have since convinced the toy industry that fuel cells are a viable alternative to battery-operated. It's always inspiring to see young companies go out on a limb to prove a concept and have industry behemoths, like the world's third largest toy manufacturer Wah Shing and others, fall into line. Because of the H-racer, Horizon has probably shipped more fuel cell units (measured by volume) than any other company in the world and turned a profit. Other sectors beyond toys will follow suit for Horizon (they recently announced a deal with Millennium Cell to go after small apps like emergency gear and construction tools and already have a prototype). That type of collaboration seems sorely needed, given the plethora of other fuel cell companies out there, many of whom have started to carve out other niches of the power storage market, such as Bloom Energy, which plans to use solid-oxide fuel cells to allow homes to generate their own electricity. But at some point a consolidation is going to have to happen, since the number of fuel cell companies, including those traded on public markets, is what Igor of Young Frankenstein fame would call "Abby Normal". The list of IPOs already includes Millennium, Acta, SFC Smart Fuel Cell, Ceres, Protonex, Ceramic Fuel Cells, CMR Fuel Cells, IdaTech to name but a few, but find me one that's actually making some serious money on a sustained basis.