YouTube Megastar MrBeast was announced on Monday that his company, Beast Industries, is buying Step, a banking app aimed at teenagers.
Step, which raised half a billion in funding and has come to an end 7 million usersoffers financial services geared toward Gen Z to help them build credit, save and invest. The company has attracted celebrity investors including Charli D’Amelio, Will Smith, The Chainsmokers and Stephen Curry, in addition to venture capital firms such as General Catalyst, Coatue and payments company Stripe.
If the company wants to continue to get its fintech product in front of young people, then partnering with Gen Z phenom MrBeast is wise. MrBeast, whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson, is the most subscribed creator on YouTube, with over 466 million subscribers, but his ambitions extend beyond his extravagant videos.
“No one taught me how to invest, build credit or manage money growing up,” the 27-year-old he said. “I want to give millions of young people the financial foundation they never had.”
This acquisition makes sense, given that a leaked document last year indicated that this was an area of interest for Beast Industries. The company is also reportedly interested in launching a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO), a lower-cost mobile plan similar to Ryan Reynolds’ Mint Mobile.
In line with other top creators, Beast Industries’ business is much more than YouTube ad revenue. (In fact, the company reinvests much of that money back into content.) The company’s cash cow is its Feastables chocolate brand, which is more profitable from both the MrBeast YouTube channel and the Prime Video show “Beast Games,” according to leaked documents reported by Bloomberg. Some of his other ventures such as Lunch and MrBeast Burger, have struggled.
“We are excited about how this acquisition is going to strengthen our platform and bring more innovative products to Step customers,” Step founder and CEO CJ MacDonald he said in a statement.
