It was announced that ClearOrbit was sold to TAKE Solutions, based in Chennai India, for $20.6M in cash. Reports say the company had taken in $15M in venture capital from various sources over the years, and sales were approximately $15M annually. I assume that includes the combined results of eBoomering by now, which they acquired in early 2006. By all measures this is a pretty underwhelming result, but lets keep some other things in mind.

• 90% of all new businesses fail in the first year (says common wisdom), so they’re at least in the top 10% of all companies in the U.S.
• The venture investors probably got most of their investment back, which is one step up the ladder from losing it all. Early investors probably got crammed down in later rounds as they always do, but in general it’s better than a total loss.

It’s hard to spin this thing as a growth story after all these years, and if they were in need of capital for any reason there would not have been much of a market. So a sale like this is just about the best thing to do if you’re going to be in the top 100 of a market, rather than the market leader.

Last year they reported a development partnership with MSU (the CEO is an alum). Most likely that thinking will be done in Chennai pretty soon. It will save some costs, increase margins, and generate synergies with TAKE’s other business units. Best of luck to the team over there as they work through the integration of this deal.

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