McDonald’s makes its largest acquisition in 20 years. The fast-food chain’s is acquiring the Israeli personalization startup Dynamic Yield. The announcement does not include a price, but sources say the tag price is more than $300 million.
Founded in 2012 by Liad Agmon and Omri Mendelevich, Dynamic Yield deals with personalization of content so that every user is exposed to the most relevant part while browsing. The company works with brands across e-commerce, finance, travel, and media
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According to Crunchbase, Dynamic Yield has raised $83.3 million to date from Innovation Endeavors, Bessemer Venture Partners and Marker Capital, as well as strategic backers like Naver (which owns the messaging apps Line and Snow), Baidu, The New York Times and Deutsche Telekom.
McDonald’s said it will utilize this decision technology to provide personalized customer experience by varying outdoor digital Drive Thru menu displays to show you additional items based on what you’ve already chosen. It can also show you food based on time of day, weather, current restaurant traffic, and trending menu items. McDonald’s also plans to integrate this technology into other digital products, like self-serve kiosks, the mobile app, and its Future stores.
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McDonald’s has tested the service in several U.S. locations in 2018 and start rolling it out across the United States in 2019 and then to move into international markets.
McDonald’s president and CEO Steve Easterbrook in a statement, “Technology is a critical element of our Velocity Growth Plan, enhancing the experience for our customers by providing greater convenience on their terms. With this acquisition, we’re expanding both our ability to increase the role technology and data will play in our future and the speed with which we’ll be able to implement our vision of creating more personalized experiences for our customers.”
Dynamic Yield will continue to operate as a standalone company serving existing and future clients, and that it will continue to invest in the core personalization technology.
“We started Dynamic Yield seven years ago with the premise that customer-centric brands must make personalization a core activity,” said Dynamic Yield co-founder and CEO Liad Agmon in a statement. “We’re thrilled to be joining an iconic global brand such as McDonald’s and are excited to innovate in ways that have a real impact on people’s daily lives.”
