WorldDesk, a leading provider of desktop virtualisation software, has today announced the most significant overhaul of its consumer offering, WorldDesk for You, since its launch in early 2012; including a new user interface, improved performance and support for a suite of new applications. As part of the today's launch, the Belfast and Menlo Park based start-up has also announced it has raised a further $1.25m in funding from existing investors. The exact financial terms of the investment have not been disclosed but the round includes Belfast-based angel investment firm, Lough Shore Investments and a number of US investors, based in California and New York.

This latest release of WorldDesk for You (Version 2.2.0), the most significant update since the platform's launch just over a year ago, is focused around a new user interface design and enhanced performance. The new user interface includes a new start-up and closing sequence, a newly designed toolbar, desktop background and icons. The overall look and feel has been heavily integrated with the WorldDesk branding. On the performance side, this latest release boasts a much faster start-up time, bug fixes for all user-reported issues and support for a suite of new consumer-centric applications, including Chrome, Skype (both voice and video) and Kindle applications. Finally, the latest release also includes a new installation package with an interactive tour of WorldDesk for You and its key features.

WorldDesk for You allows users to access their personalised desktop - including all their files, settings and significantly, their applications - on any machine. Users can store and carry this desktop around on any device, from a simple USB drive to a smartphone or iPod. The platform also enables desktop delivery and storage via the Cloud following collaborations with Box and Dropbox.

Speaking following the announcement, Stevie Morrow, WorldDesk CEO said: "We're delighted with today's announcement; on the product side, we wanted to make a release that looked better and performed better and that is exactly what we have in this version. The additional fundraising is also significant in that it will allow us to meaningfully increase our footprint, both in terms of our engineering and sales capacity, in Europe and Asia-Pacific. Crucially though, we take great heart from our ability to raise further funding from our existing investors, it's an endorsement of our strategy to date and we look forward to continuing to deliver for those who have shown an incredible belief in the WorldDesk vision."

Jonathan Chesney, WorldDesk Product Manager concluded, "The design brief for the new UI was very simple; we wanted to bring the WorldDesk branding and its very unique look and feel to the wider platform - right down to the Recycle Bin icon! It wasn't just about creating a better UI; it was about giving the product a personality of its own, that is simple and easy to use. It is the single biggest refit of WorldDesk for You since our launch and the results are incredible - we couldn't be happier."