Facebook owned virtual reality (VR) company Oculus has acquired Danish eye-tracking specialist Eye Tribe for an undisclosed sum.
Eye Tribe, which was founded in 2011, builds eye tracking software and applications for several platforms.
The company sells its eye tracking technology to software developers, allowing them to incorporate the eye tracking device into their applications and programmes.
Eye Tribe founders met at the IT University of Copenhagen in 2007. In 2011 the four founders bought the IP from the University, formed The Eye Tribe and joined the StartupBootcamp accelerator programme.
Since then, the company has expanded to 16 full time employees and shipped its first eye tracking software development kit.
The Eye Tribe technology allows eye control for consumer devices that enables simplified and improved user experiences.
Eye Tribe has so far raised $3m in funding and also received a grant of $2.3m from the Danish National Advanced Technology Foundation and another million from private European investors.
Eye Tribe is also leading a $4.4m government-funded project, making it the major project for developing eye tracking for hand-held devices.
Facebook is particularly showing interest in eye tracking as the company seeks to take the lead in social interactions in VR.
Last October, Oculus unveiled a prototype standalone headset which will not require connection to a computer of mobile phone.
The new VR headset allows users to create a virtual identity using Oculus Avatar, a platform feature that lets users customise VR identity.
