In the early 1980's, when computational fluid dynamics was mainly of academic interest, a modest project funded by a New Hampshire company called Creare Inc. led to the development of an easy-to-use and interactive CFD software code for engineers. The first version of the FLUENT code was launched in October 1983. It was so successful and the CFD software business grew so rapidly that the Fluent group at Creare became a separate company, headquartered nearby in Lebanon, New Hampshire, in 1988. Fluent Inc. quickly formed joint ventures in Europe and Japan, and over the next ten years, grew a network of corporate offices and distributorships serving all of the major industrialized nations of the world.

In August, 1995, Fluent Inc. was acquired by Aavid Thermal Technologies, Inc., a Laconia, New Hampshire-based company, specializing in thermal management of electronic systems. This was followed by the first public offering of Aavid stock in the United States in January, 1996. Rapid expansion of both Aavid's thermal management business and Fluent's software business ensued. In May, 1996, Fluent acquired Fluid Dynamics International, the developer of the FIDAP software code and its nearest competitor in the CFD business. This was followed in 1997 by the acquisition of Polyflow S.A., the developer of the POLYFLOW software code for CFD analysis of laminar flows. In January, 2000, Aavid Thermal Technologies was merged with a newly formed entity owned by Willis Stein & Partners, a leading private equity investment firm.

Today, Fluent is the worlds' largest provider of commercial CFD software and services. The company offers general-purpose CFD software for a wide range of industrial applications, along with highly-automated, application-focused packages. CFD consulting services are also available worldwide. Its staff exceeds 350 people, most with highly-technical backgrounds as applied CFD engineers, plus experts in computational methods, mesh generation, and software development.

Fluent's clients are the market leaders and the largest companies in industries such as automotive, aerospace, chemical and materials processing, power generation, biomedical, HVAC, and electronics. Most license the software on an annual basis.