SolidWorks is a solid modeling computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided engineering (CAE) application published by Dassault Systèmes. According to the publisher, over two million engineers and designers at more than 165,000 companies were using SolidWorks as of 2013. According to the company, fiscal year 2011–12 revenue for SolidWorks totaled $483 million. History SolidWorks Corporation was founded in December 1993 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate Jon Hirschtick. Hirschtick used $1 million he had made while a member of the MIT Blackjack Team to set up the company. Initially based in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States, Hirschtick recruited a team of engineers with the goal of building 3D CAD software that was easy-to-use, affordable, and available on the Windows desktop. Operating later from Concord, Massachusetts, SolidWorks released its first product SolidWorks 95, in November 1995. In 1997 Dassault, best known for its CATIA CAD software, acquired SolidWorks for $310 million in stock. Jon Hirschtick stayed on board for the next 14 years in various roles. Under his leadership, SolidWorks grew to a $100 million revenue company. SolidWorks currently markets several versions of the SolidWorks CAD software in addition to eDrawings, a collaboration tool, and DraftSight, a 2D CAD product. SolidWorks was headed by John McEleney from 2001 to July 2007, Jeff Ray from 2007 to January 2011, Bertrand Sicot from 2011 to Jan 2015 and Gian Paolo Bassi from 2015 to Jan 2022. In February 2022, Manish Kumar was named as the new CEO of SOLIDWORKS while Gian Paolo Bassi was promoted to be the Executive VP of 3DEXPERIENCE WORKS at Dassault Systèmes. Release history Market DS Solidworks Corp. has sold over 3.5 million licenses of SolidWorks worldwide. This includes a large proportion of educational licenses. Its user base ranges from individuals to large corporations, and covers a very wide cross-section of manufacturing market segments. Commercial sales are made through an indirect channel, which includes dealers and partners throughout the world. In the United States, the first reseller of SolidWorks, in 1995, was Computer Aided Technology, LLC, headquartered in Chicago. Directly competitive products to SolidWorks include PTC Creo Elements/Pro, Solid Edge, and Autodesk Inventor. SolidWorks also partners with third-party developers to add functionality in niche market applications like finite element analysis, circuit layout, tolerance checking, etc. SolidWorks has also licensed its 3D modeling capabilities to other CAD software vendors, notably ANVIL. Modeling technology SolidWorks is a solid modeler, and utilizes a parametric