Facebook has acquired the ProtoGeo Oy, the 2-year-old Helsinki company that makes the Moves app, that can track the distance consumers walk or run and measure the calories burned, A Facebook spokesman said the price for ProtoGeo, which has fewer than 10 employees, was not anywhere near what the company had paid for other higher-profile acquisitions recently, Reports, Reuters. Earlier this year, Facebook bought mobile messenger WhatsApp for $19 billion and Oculus VR for $2 billion.

The acquisition is in keeping with the new trend of companies hoping for further growth from the health and fitness market. The application has been downloaded four million times for iPhone and Android phones since its launch in January 2013.

The app uses a smartphone's built-in sensors to track a person's physical activity, recognising movements such as walking, cycling and running.

                       

The acquisition comes at an interesting time for the health-tech sector. Last week, Nike revealed it is laying off staff within its digital sports division that created the Nike+ Fuelband, as the sports brand prepares to stop making the wearable hardware.