McDonald’s buys 10% stake in New Zealand app developerMcDonald’s buys 10% stake in New Zealand app developer

McDonald’s Corp., which made a rare acquisition of an artificial intelligence company last week, said Monday it is taking a near 10-percent stake in a New Zealand-based app developer.

Under the terms of the agreement, McDonald’s is purchasing 13.8 million shares of Plexure at a 15% premium, the company said. Plexure powers the Chicago-based chain’s global app in 48 countries outside the U.S., including Italy and Japan.

The $3.7 million investment, McDonald’s first equity stake in a mobile app vendor, will allow McDonald’s to use Plexure’s technology to improve back-end and front-end features, customer functionality and customer targeting, the company said.

“Across all of our markets, we’re using technology to elevate and transform the McDonald’s customer experience,” CEO Steve Easterbrook said in a statement. “Our mobile apps play a key role in our digital acceleration, allowing customers to interact with us on their terms in a personal, customized way. This investment is a testament to our belief in Plexure’s ability to deliver strong results for our business as well as the talent and technology they’ve cultivated.” 

The announcement follows the company’s purchase last week of Dynamic Yield, which specializes in personalization and decision logic technology.  The company said it plans to use Dynamic Yield’s AI-powered technology for personalizing the customer experience.

It will launch first in drive-thru lanes, suggesting add-on items to go with a customer’s current selections.

McDonald’s has nearly 38,000 locations in over 100 countries around the world.

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