YouTube’s biggest creator is making a major move into fintech. MrBeast, the megastar known off-camera as Jimmy Donaldson, announced Monday that Beast Industries is acquiring Step, a banking app built for teens and young adults.
The deal puts one of the internet’s most influential Gen Z figures behind a financial services platform that already has serious momentum. Step has raised roughly half a billion dollars in funding, grown past 7 million users, and positioned itself as a money app designed to help Gen Z start early with the basics many people don’t learn in school: building credit, saving consistently, and even getting started with investing.
Step’s growth has been backed by a mix of major venture support and high-profile celebrity investors. The company has drawn funding from firms such as General Catalyst and Coatue, along with payments company Stripe. It has also attracted star power from names like Charli D’Amelio, Will Smith, The Chainsmokers, and Stephen Curry—an investor list that reflects how competitive the race has become to win the next generation of banking customers.
For Step, teaming up with MrBeast isn’t just a splashy headline—it’s a direct line to the audience fintech companies fight hardest to reach. MrBeast is the most-subscribed creator on YouTube, with more than 466 million subscribers, and his ability to capture attention at massive scale could help keep Step in front of young people as they begin making real financial decisions.
Donaldson framed the acquisition around a personal gap he wants to help close for others. He said that growing up, he wasn’t taught how investing works, how credit is built, or how to manage money in a practical way—and he wants Step to help give young users the kind of financial foundation he feels he didn’t have.
The move also fits a broader pattern: Beast Industries is increasingly behaving like a diversified consumer business, not a media company that simply lives on ad revenue. Like other top creators building long-term brands, the company reportedly pours much of its income back into content, while looking to expand into products and services with bigger upside. Leaked pitch materials from last year suggested financial services were already on Beast Industries’ radar. Reports have also indicated the company may be exploring a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), aimed at offering a lower-cost cell phone plan—similar in concept to other creator-backed wireless brands.
Beast Industries has had major wins outside of video. Feastables, the company’s chocolate brand, has emerged as a standout performer and is reportedly more profitable than both the MrBeast YouTube channel and the Prime Video series “Beast Games,” according to leaked documents covered by Bloomberg. Not every project has been as smooth, though—other ventures such as Lunchly and MrBeast Burger have faced challenges.
Step’s leadership says the acquisition is about scale and accelerating what comes next. Founder and CEO CJ MacDonald said the company is excited about how the deal will amplify Step’s platform and enable it to deliver more groundbreaking products to customers.
With Step’s existing user base and funding muscle, plus MrBeast’s unmatched reach with Gen Z, the acquisition signals a serious push to make teen and young adult banking more mainstream—and potentially reshape how the next generation learns to save, build credit, and invest.
