The 2012 financials for SolidWorks...

Dassault Systemes North American Headquarters

The 2012 financials for SolidWorks indicate continued growth and momentum

Many SolidWorks users are keenly interested in the goings on of the company and where the software may be going both in the way of further development and new direction.  To gain a sense of the current business health of SolidWorks, it might be helpful to look at the company as it has grown over the years and what the current Dassault Systemes 2012 financials reveal*.  In summary, most will find that SolidWorks is, well... very solid.

History and milestones

A brief review of the history of SolidWorks shows continued growth both from within and from acquisition.

• 2013  +2M licenses sold @ 26% commercial / 74% educational; Announced upcoming release of SolidWorks Mechanical Conceptual
• 2012  Added SolidWorks Plastics and SolidWorks Electrical to portfolio
• 2011  Bertrand Sicot as CEO; Added SolidWorks Costing to portfolio; Dassault Systems creates the American Campus in Waltham, MA  USA; Updated logo
• 2010
• 2009 +1M licenses sold @ 34% commercial / 66% educational; Added Sustainability to portfolio, Updated product names
• 2008  Acquired Priware, incorporated CircuitWorks, Significant IU enhancements
• 2007  Jeff Ray as CEO; Acquired Seemage; Added 3DVIA Composer to portfolio
• 2006  Acquired Conisio, Added PDMWorks Enterprise to portfolio
• 2005
• 2004
• 2003
• 2002  Added PDMWorks Workgroup to portfolio from Design Resource Technology, Inc
• 2001  John McEleney as CEO; +118k licenses sold, Acquired Structural Research and Analysis Corporation; Added Simulation to portfolio, Updated logo
• 2000
• 1999
• 1998
• 1997  Acquired by Dassault Systems @ $310M
• 1996
• 1995  Shipped first seat of SolidWorks; Headquarters in Concord, MA USA
• 1994
• 1993  John Hirschtick as CEO; Founded in Waltham, MA USA dba Winchester Design Systems

SolidWorks Licenses

As regards SolidWorks licenses, a notable statistic that stands out is the ever growing percentage of education license sales over commercial, currently at a 2.8:1 ratio.

Another is the software reaching the milestone of 2 million licenses sold. However, this statistic should not be construed as the actual number of current users as SolidWorks infers. It's simply the total number of licenses sold since 1995.  A much better barometer of the health of SolidWorks is the number of licenses or seats sold each year, as this graph indicates.

SolidWorks Revenue

The 2012 key figures delivered by Dassault Systemes indicate that within their total revenue of € 2,083.3M, SolidWorks software provided € 403.2M, or 19.3%.  Generally speaking, SolidWorks has routinely contributed at around 20% over the years since being acquired by Dassault Systemes in 1997.  So not much has changed there.

What has changed is the profitability.  Whereas SolidWorks sales generally mirror the overall economic trends, the revenue generated by SolidWorks is showing a steady increase.

SolidWorks Headcount

An clearer indication of momentum within SolidWorks is the employee headcount.  While it has shown moderate increase over the years, in 2012 it jumped significantly from 848 to 1,015.  One can only speculate as to what all that extra effort is going toward, but SolidWorks Mechanical Conceptual would seem to be at least one reasonable choice.

In conclusion, the statistics indicate that SolidWorks continues to provide a viable tool that CAD consumers appreciate.  Certainly, as technology and leadership shape SolidWorks from within, it seems well positioned within the framework of Dassault Systemes 3DEXPERIENCE Platform to continue pressing diligently toward their goal.  A goal of gaining an ever increasing share as the CAD software of choice among the worldwide design community. 

* data and information derived the Dassault Systemes Annual Report 2012 and SolidWorks Company Fact Sheets