YouTube’s top creator, MrBeast, is making a leap into fintech by buying a consumer banking app geared toward teens.
His company, Beast Industries, is acquiring Step, according to a joint announcement sent Monday.
Step, which describes itself as an “all-in-one” money app, is a digital banking platform designed to help young people get their financial start. The company offers a mix of services, including savings accounts, a credit-building Visa card that functions similarly to a debit card, and a cash-advance program. Step itself isn’t a bank. It offers its banking services via a partnership with FDIC-member Evolve Bank & Trust.
“Financial health is fundamental to overall wellbeing, yet too many people lack access to the tools and knowledge they need to build financial security,” Beast Industries CEO Jeff Housenbold said in a statement. “This acquisition positions us to meet our audiences where they are, with practical, technology-driven solutions that can transform their financial futures for the better.”
The companies did not disclose the terms of the deal. Step said in 2022 that it had raised $500 million in equity and debt from institutional investors, including General Catalyst, companies such as Stripe, and individuals like TikTok influencer Charli D’Amelio.
MrBeast’s push to move beyond YouTube
Beast Industries, which was valued at about $5 billion in its latest round of funding, has been looking for new avenues to make money beyond media, including the possibility of launching a mobile phone service down the road.
MrBeast’s candy and chocolate business, Feastables, has been a big money maker for the influencer, pulling in over $200 million in 2024 revenue, according to investor materials viewed by Business Insider. Not all ventures have paid off. The MrBeast team is currently embroiled in a legal battle with a business partner over the operations of its burger business, MrBeast Burger.
The content creator — who has over 460 million YouTube subscribers — has been planning to break into fintech for months, filing a US trademark application for the name “MrBeast Financial” in October. The company teased launching a fintech business with services like student loans, insurance, or credit insights in an early 2025 investor pitch deck, Business Insider first reported. The deck said the company would break into the industry by finding a partner who had existing infrastructure “while avoiding regulatory, credit risk, and capital requirement.”
In January, when Beast Industries announced it raised $200 million from ethereum holding firm Bitmine Immersion Technologies, Housenbold said the company would explore “ways to further collaborate and incorporate DeFi into our upcoming financial services platform.”
As the company prepares to enter the finance business, MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, also said he wants to make videos about finance, such as “educating people on investing and showing them what is a Roth IRA.”
Donaldson, who has spoken on many occasions about his personal finances, said in a Monday post on X (formerly Twitter) that he saw the Step acquisition as an opportunity to “give millions of young people the financial foundation I never had.”
“Nobody taught me about investing, building credit, or managing money when I was growing up,” he wrote.
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