Virtual desktop startup Paperspace Inc. has raised a $4 million seed round from Ludlow Ventures, Data Collective, Initialized Capital and a number of individual investors.

Founded in 2014, Paperspace is aiming to disrupt the virtual desktop market currently dominated by VMware, Citrix and Amazon with what they describe as a powerful cloud-based computer a user can access from anywhere.

The company claims its platform is the world’s first GPU-accelerated DaaS/VDI platform, allowing users to run high-end media rich applications and 3D graphics, delivering near-native performance directly in a web browser.

Along with the news of new funding, Paperspace has also announced Paperspace for Teams, an enterprise focused virtual desktop platform that includes features like 1-click backups, monitoring, custom templates, shared drives and more, all accessible through a web-based management console.

Paperspace for Teams is able to handle any size of deployment from a 5-person office to a 50,000 enterprise and includes tools that enable an enterprise to sort, filter, create, and connect users, machines, and networks.

“We can run a full Windows computer in the cloud with our virtual desktop and stream it to a web browser,” co-founder Dillon Erb told VentureBeat. “It’s really for anyone who needs access to a more powerful computer.”

Powerful VM

While not specifically established for the purpose, Paperspace none the less provides support for high-end services including complex CAD operations, which as TechCrunch points out means it can also handle almost anything financial services, education, legal, healthcare or any typical VDI setting can provide, along with gaming.

“Not only is Paperspace moving virtual desktops from on-premise to the cloud, we are the only hosted desktop provider that comes standard with a GPU, enabling graphic intensive industries to benefit from the technology for the first time,” co-founder Daniel Kobran said separately.

Paperspace offers a variety of plans with a mid-range single user license costing $25 per month and a pro plan, geared towards more high-end users, coming in at $60 per month. Hourly rates are also available.

Image credit: Paperspace