Money is a recurring element in the content of Jimmy Donaldson, known on YouTube as MrBeast. Videos from the 27-year-old influencer often feature multiple challenges where winners receive cash prizes or charitable efforts where funds are donated. The YouTube star, who runs the most popular channel on the platform with more than 460 million subscribers, is now taking his interest in finance in a new direction by acquiring Fintech startup Step, which creates a banking application aimed at Gen Z.
Step will join a number of other operations under Beast Industries, Donaldson’s media company, the content creator announced yesterday (Feb. 9). Beast Industries did not disclose how much it paid for the purchase. The initiative offers services that allow users under the age of 18 to open bank accounts and credit cards.
“No one taught me how to invest, build credit, or manage money growing up,” Donaldson said in X. “I want to give millions of young people the financial foundation I never had.”
Donaldson, who started posting on YouTube in 2012, attributed his unprecedented online success to a wealth of business opportunities. Beast Industries’ brands include the Feastables snack line, a lunch kit company and toy business, and media efforts that include Amazon Prime’s. Animal Games television show.
Backed by venture capitalist Jeff Housenbold, Beast Industries is valued at over five billion dollars. Last month, it raised $200 million from Bitmine Immersion Technologies, an Ethereum financing company.
The first signs of Donaldson’s interest in expanding into banking came in October, when he trademarked a financial services company called MrBeast Financial that would offer banking, cryptocurrency, consumer lending and advisory services. In an interview a few months later, the content creator confirmed plans to keep the bank and revealed that he would like to eventually start creating financial content on a separate YouTube channel.
The initiative, at least for now, will be operated by Beast Industries as an independent entity, as reported by The Information. Founded in 2018 by fintech veterans CJ MacDonald and Alexy Kalinichenko, the company currently has over 7 million customers and is focused on making money management accessible to new users. “Our mission has always been to improve the financial future of the next generation,” MacDonald said in a statement.
The app also proved popular in Silicon Valley. Step has raised more than $500 million in funding from investors such as digital payments company Stripe and venture capital firms Coatue Management, General Catalyst, and Crosslink Capital. Donaldson isn’t the first celebrity to show interest in Step—the app has received support from NBA player Stephen Curry, actor Will Smith and influencer Charli D’Amelio.
Donaldson’s large fanbase is expected to attract Step’s younger customers as well. Gen Z makes up 46 percent of MrBeast’s YouTube audience, according to data from Parrot Analytics. Across all platforms, the creator has more than 1 billion followers and reached 1.4 billion unique people in just 90 days.
Donaldson’s business empire continues to grow. Other upcoming projects include a mobile phone service known as Beast Mobile that will follow a mobile virtual network operator (MNVO) strategy of using infrastructure from a major carrier, and a two-way marketplace with Fortune 1000 content creators and advertisers.
