New Kid on the Block: A YouTube Star Buys a Fintech App

A popular online personality has just added a banking app to his growing list of businesses. The app, called Step, was created in 2018 and promises to help people learn about money and manage it easily. Back in 2021, Step raised more than $175 million from well‑known investors such as General Catalyst, Coatue Management and Stripe. The company was worth about $920 million at that time, though the value may be lower now. The owner’s media company, Beast Industries, recently secured $200 million from a cryptocurrency firm named BitMine. That deal values the company at roughly $5. 2 billion and shows it is looking beyond just videos and social media.The new purchase fits with the owner’s plan to produce content that teaches viewers about investing and saving. He has already registered a trademark for “MrBeast Financial” last October, hinting at future videos about topics like Roth IRAs. By owning Step, the company hopes to give its close to one billion followers practical tools and information that could change their financial lives. This move follows the owner’s other ventures, such as a food delivery service launched in 2020, a chocolate brand, a packaged food line and an upcoming mobile phone company. He began making videos in 2012 and now has a net worth of about $2. 6 billion.