Microsoft snaps up 'FitBit for driving' firm

Mobile Data Labs claims to help SMB customers avoid "tedious" admin tasks

Microsoft has acquired an SMB-focused tech firm that has been billed the "Fitbit for driving" and claims to help small businesses be more productive.

Mobile Data Labs is a tech company that aims to simplify the way businesses track staff mileage with its MileIQ product, which it describes as a mashup between a business credit card and the Fitbit.

The firm's app works by using sensors in mobile devices to track, log and calculate business miles they have clocked up. Microsoft claims the acquisition - for an undisclosed sum - is the latest example of its ambition to "reinvent productivity".

Microsoft claims there are more than 55 million SMB staff in the US alone, meaning the opportunity for MileIQ is big.

Mobile Data Labs was founded in 2013 and it claims MileIQ is the top-grossing finance app in the iTunes store for 20 months in a row. The app has more than one million users.

"Mobile Data Labs has assembled a world-class team dedicated to making it easier for mobile professionals to alleviate tedious tasks through the power of ambient data intelligence, freeing them to focus on their more important business objectives," Microsoft's corporate vice president for Outlook and Office 365 Rajesh Jha said.

"The team will continue to build and offer mobile productivity solutions and look to take advantage of insights from Office 365 and the Office Graph."

Mobile Data Labs's co-founder, Chuck Dietrich, said his firm will have a bigger opportunity of success under the Microsoft umbrella.

"By partnering with Microsoft, our horizon and momentum are now even bigger - and our ability to deliver excellent products, delightful experiences and personalised service is greater than ever," he said. "Under Satya Nadella's leadership, Microsoft has been on a path of tremendous innovation; the people in the company feel it, the products show it and the market has responded. Microsoft's ambition to reinvent personal productivity and business processes couldn't be more aligned with our goals."