Investment bank Goldman Sachs has continued to target technology in the wake of its massive investment in Facebook last month, taking a $70 million (£43 million) shareholding in British software and services business AppSense.

Investment bank Goldman Sachs has continued to target technology in the wake of its massive investment in Facebook last month, taking a $70 million (£43 million) shareholding in British software and services business AppSense.

AppSense chief executive Darron Antill says the business, headquartered in Manchester, will use the funds to continue developing after expanding last year to have more than 4,000 customers worldwide across private and public sectors. Clients of the business, which specialises in ‘user virtualisation’, include British Telecom, ESPN, JPMorgan Chase and United Airlines.

As part of the investment, Pete Perrone, managing director at Goldman Sachs, will join the company’s board of directors.

According to a company statement, AppSense last year increased revenue by more than 60 per cent and its workforce by 40 per cent, and announced partnerships with a number of major companies including Microsoft and McAfee. The business offers tailored software, which enables employees of a company to access work documents and programs on any desktop or mobile device.

Antill comments, ‘We are delighted by the level of support AppSense has received from Goldman Sachs and appreciate the magnitude of what this investment will allow us to do. Effective user virtualisation solutions are critical to any enterprise’s future desktop strategy and will only continue to increase with the growth of cloud and mobile device platforms.’

Co- founded by chairman Charles Sharland in 1999, AppSense has offices in New York and San Jose in the US, Germany, Australia, the Netherlands, France and Norway.