SwiftKey is now Minecraft's sibling.

Microsoft, which paid $2.5 billion for Minecraft in 2014, has reportedly paid $250 million (£173 million) to acquire SwiftKey.

SwiftKey is a London-based developer, best known for its hugely popular predictive keyboard app that's installed on more than 300 million devices. The free app is available for iOS and Android devices but not Windows phone... yet.

The price Microsoft paid was published by The Financial Times, but is yet to be confirmed.

SwiftKey has roughly 150 employees working in London, San Francisco and Seoul, and many of them will reportedly now work at Microsoft Research. The Financial Times claimed Jon Reynolds and Ben Medlock, SwiftKey's cofounders, will each make at least $30 million from the deal.

In a Microsoft blog announcing the deal, Harry Shum, executive vice president of technology and research said that the company will look to integrate SwiftKey's tech into its own Word Flow for Windows. He also revealed that it was SwiftKey's predictive text technologies that particularly appealed.

"This acquisition is a great example of Microsoft’s commitment to bringing its software and services to all platforms. We’ll continue to develop SwiftKey’s market-leading keyboard apps for Android and iOS as well as explore scenarios for the integration of the core technology across the breadth of our product and services portfolio," he wrote.

"Moreover, SwiftKey’s predictive technology aligns with Microsoft’s investments and ambition to develop intelligent systems that can work more on the user’s behalf and under their control."

The company will also continue to look for interesting software and apps to purchase in the coming months and years. Beyond Minecraft, Microsoft recently bought the Acompli email app, Wunderlist to-do list app, and Sunrise calendar app.