McDonald’s selling Israeli digital startup to Mastercard

McDonald’s is selling a personalization and decision-logic technology company that it acquired nearly three years ago.

The fast-food giant is selling Israeli startup Dynamic Yield Ltd. to Mastercard for an undisclosed amount. McDonald’s acquired the company in March 2019. The deal was valued at more than $300 million, making it the largest McDonald’s deal in 20 years.

The Dynamic Yield technology enables McDonald’s to vary its outdoor menu displays to show food tailored to such factors as time of day, weather, current restaurant traffic and trending menu items. It also allows the chain to instantly suggest and display additional items to customers based on their current selections.

To date, the technology has been deployed to McDonald’s drive-thrus and ordering kiosks in several markets around the world. In addition, McDonald’s plans to further scale and integrate Dynamic Yield’s capabilities globally and across ordering channels.

Under McDonald’s ownership, Dynamic Yield expanded its customer base across verticals. Under Mastercard ownership, Dynamic Yield to scale its technology to other third-party businesses, the companies said.  

“The notion of going into a store or opening a webpage to find an experience perfectly tailored to you is no longer farfetched,” said Raj Seshadri, president of data & services, Mastercard.

It’s a reality that more brands are deploying and more consumers expect. With Dynamic Yield’s expertise and our scale and relationships, we’ll be able to bring the connections between the end consumer and our customers to new heights.”