Microsoft buys Mobile Data Labs, the company behind MileIQ

Microsoft will continue to offer MileIQ, while the team builds more mobile productivity solutions

Microsoft is on a mission right now to help make workers more productive, which it has done through a series of aquisitions including Acompli, Sunrise and Wunderlist.

The latest in this space to be acquired by the company is Mobile Data Labs, the maker of the popular smart mileage tracker MileIQ, it was announced in a blog post on Thursday. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed.

MileIQ uses a mobile app that catches drives automatically, syncs them to the cloud, and simplifies the process of generating accurate mileage record for workers to submit back to their employers for reimbursement.

MileIQ has over 1 million users and has been the top-grossing finance app in the iTunes store for 20 months straight. Going foward, Mobile Data Labs will become a part of Microsoft, and the company plans to continue selling and supporting the MileIQ app. Microsoft intend for it to continue to be available in the iOS and Google Play App stores.

However, it sounds as though the team will also be working on creating new apps for Microsoft as well.

"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," Rajesh Jha, corporate VP for Outlook and Office 365 at Microsoft, wrote.

"We’re thrilled to welcome Mobile Data Labs to the Microsoft family to work on new ways to improve the productivity to millions more mobile professionals."

From the perspective of Mobile Data Labs, becoming part of Microsoft gives it access to mch larger reach and resources than it had prevously.

"By partnering with Microsoft, our horizon and momentum are now even bigger–and our ability to deliver excellent products, delightful experiences and personalized service is greater than ever. 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," Chuck Dietrich, CEO of Mobile Data Labs, wrote in his own blog post.

Also, he noted, the two companies share similar goals and have a shared vision.

"Microsoft’s ambition to reinvent personal productivity and business processes couldn’t be more aligned with our goals," said Dietrich. "With our shared passion and commitment to mobile productivity, the San Francisco-based MileIQ team aims to advance this mutual vision by continuing to build services for self-directed workers–services like MileIQ that are automated, intuitive and give users back time, money and peace of mind."

Co- founded in 2013 by Dietrich and Dan Bomze, Mobile Data Labs had raised over $15 million in funing, including a $12 million round in January. Investors in the company included Trinity Ventures, CRV, Marc Benioff, SV Angel, and angel investors.

While a Microsoft spokesperson told me that the company expects "a significant number of Mobile Data Labs employees to continue on with Microsoft," it does not yet have any specific personnel numbers to share.

Overall, acquiring Mobile Data Labs is the latest example of Microsoft’s ambition to reinvent productivity and business process in a mobile-first, cloud-first world.

"The company’s expertise in ambient data intelligence-driven mobile technology will help Microsoft deliver new productivity solutions and experiences for a wide range of customers, particularly the 'self-directed workforce' of small business employees, entrepreneurs and other mobile professional," the spokesperson said.

Microsoft's other purchases in this space have included calendar app Sunrise, which it recently shut down, e-mail startup Acompli, and 6Wunderkinder, the creator of to-do list app, Wunderlist.

(Image source: mileiq.com)