Beast Industries acquires fintech app Step

Beast Industries announced on Monday that it is acquiring Step, a teen-focused banking and financial technology (fintech) app. Step has raised half a billion in funding and has grown to over 7 million users. The app offers financial services geared toward helping younger demographics build credit, save money, and invest. The company has attracted a wide range of backing, with investors in Step including venture firms General Catalyst and Coatue, payments company Stripe, and individual investors Charli D’Amelio, Will Smith, The Chainsmokers, and Stephen Curry.

The acquisition is led by Beast Industries, the corporate entity of Jimmy Donaldson, the 27-year-old creator known online as MrBeast. Donaldson, who is the most-subscribed creator on YouTube with over 466 million subscribers, has ambitions that stretch beyond his online videos. He framed the acquisition as an effort to improve financial literacy among his audience, noting that nobody taught him about investing, building credit, or managing money when he was growing up. “I want to give millions of young people the financial foundation I never had,” Donaldson said. Step founder and CEO CJ MacDonald stated that the company is excited about how the acquisition will amplify its platform and bring more products to Step customers.

The transaction aligns with a broader strategy by Beast Industries to diversify its business operations beyond YouTube advertising revenue, which is often reinvested directly into content production. According to leaked documents reported on by Bloomberg, the company’s chocolate brand, Feastables, is more profitable than both the MrBeast YouTube channel and the Prime Video show “Beast Games.” Other ventures under the corporate umbrella, such as Lunchly and MrBeast Burger, have struggled. Additionally, Beast Industries is reportedly interested in launching a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO)—a wireless communications services provider that does not own the underlying wireless network infrastructure—similar to Mint Mobile, the cell phone plan provider associated with Ryan Reynolds. This interest in expanding into new sectors was previously indicated in a leaked pitch document from last year.

Why it matters

The acquisition aligns with Beast Industries’ documented interest in fintech and represents a strategic move to diversify the company’s business beyond YouTube ad revenue.