From Big Mac to big data, McDonald’s acquires Israeli AI startup Dynamic Yield for $300 million

McDonald’s, the world’s largest fast food chain known for its Big Mac is about to get into big data with the acquisition of Israeli AI startup Dynamic Yield. According to Wired, McDonald’s acquired Dynamic Yield for $300 million acquisition to provide more personalized customer experience by varying outdoor digital Drive Thru menu displays to show food based on time of day, weather, current restaurant traffic and trending menu items. With this acquisition, McDonald’s builds on its significant technology investments for growth.

Dynamic Yield was founded in 2011 by Liad Agmon and Omri Mendellevich. The New York and Tel Aviv, Israel-based Dynamic Yield is the developer of an AI-powered Personalization Anywhere platform that delivers individualized experiences at every customer touchpoint: web, apps, email, kiosks, IoT, and call centers. The platform’s data management capabilities provide for a unified view of the customer, allowing the rapid and scalable creation of highly targeted digital interactions. Marketers, product managers, and engineers use Dynamic Yield daily for launching new personalization campaigns, running server-side and client-side A/B tests, leveraging machine-learning for product and content recommendations, and employing algorithms for smartly triggered email and push notifications. Headquartered in New York, the company serves more than 300 brands across the world.

Commenting on the acquisition, Dynamic Yield CEO Liad Agmon, said in a message: “Today we are thrilled to announce McDonald’s Corporation, the leading global foodservice retailer, has signed an agreement to acquire Dynamic Yield Ltd. — the leading AI-powered Personalization Anywhere™ platform. This is great news for Dynamic Yield and McDonald’s customers, as well as personalization practitioners everywhere. Dynamic Yield will play a critical role in McDonald’s digital transformation, allowing it to become even more focused on the customer by deploying our technology in outdoor digital Drive-Thru menu displays, as well as other digital customer experience touchpoints, such as self-order kiosks and the McDonald’s Global Mobile App.”

When Omri Mendellevich, our CTO, and I started Dynamic Yield seven years ago, the premise of what we were building was based on customer-centric organizations making individualized experiences and personalization a strategic priority. Our acquisition by McDonald’s, one of the most iconic and beloved brands of our time, is truly an endorsement of that vision as they have chosen Dynamic Yield to help power personalization across their 37,000 restaurants in 120+ markets around the world.

The acquisition will enable McDonald’s to be one of the first companies to integrate decision technology into the customer point of sale at a brick and mortar location. McDonald’s tested this technology in several U.S. restaurants in 2018. Upon closing of the acquisition, McDonald’s will begin to roll this technology out in the Drive Thru at restaurants in the United States in 2019 and then expand the use to other top international markets. McDonald’s will also begin work to integrate the technology into all of its digital customer experience touchpoints, such as self-order kiosks and McDonald’s Global Mobile App.

“Technology is a critical element of our Velocity Growth Plan, enhancing the experience for our customers by providing greater convenience on their terms,” said Steve Easterbrook, President and Chief Executive Officer, McDonald’s Corporation. “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 personalised experiences for our customers.”

Liad Agmon, co-founder and CEO of Dynamic Yield, added: “We started Dynamic Yield seven years ago with the premise that customer-centric brands must make personalization a core activity.  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.”

McDonald’s recent advancements in the tech space – including the development of McDonald’s Global Mobile App, Mobile Order and Pay, indoor and outdoor digital menu boards and self-order kiosks – have transformed customer experiences in and around its restaurants, by giving customers more ways to pay and personalize their orders to meet their needs.

Upon closing, McDonald’s will become sole owner and will continue to invest in Dynamic Yield’s core personalization product and world-class teams. Dynamic Yield will remain a stand-alone company and employees will continue to operate out of offices around the world. Dynamic Yield will also continue to serve their current, and attract future, clients.

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