McDonald's Acquires Israeli Startup Digital Yield

On Monday, McDonald's announced it has entered into a deal to acquire Tel Aviv-based tech startup Dynamic Yield, a strategic investment aimed at bolstering the QSR giant’s customer experience through technology.

The deal is for upwards of $300 million, the Wall Street Journal reported, marking the biggest acquisition for McDonalds in two decades.

Dynamic Yield is an artificial intelligence-powered platform specializing in personalization and decision logic technology that has been utilized by other big-name companies like Ikea, Urban Outfitters and HelloFresh. McDonald’s plans with Dynamic Yield’s platform include enhancing its menu boards and drive-thrus, enabling the brand “to be one of the first companies to integrate decision technology into the customer point-of-sale at a brick-and-mortar location,” the announcement read.

"Technology is a critical element of our Velocity Growth Plan, enhancing the experience for our customers by providing greater convenience on their terms," McDonald's president and CEO Steve Easterbrook said in a statement. "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 [sic] experiences for our customers."

Read the full announcement here.