Published:
Feb 21, 2026
Author:
Sarah Parsons Wolter
Share:
MrBeast has spent a career making the internet ask, “Wait… he did what?”. This week the answer to that question is: he bought a teen-focused banking app. Beast Industries is acquiring Step, a “money app” aimed at helping young people build credit, save, and start investing, with products like a credit-building Visa card and banking services offered via a partner bank. MrBeast has framed it less as a celebrity side quest and more like an attempt to give his 460m subscribers the financial foundation he says he never had - possibly the first time “Roth IRA” is destined to appear in a viral thumbnail.
Underneath the wholesome mission statement is an elegant strategy: distribution. Step has the regulated “plumbing” and an existing footprint; MrBeast has a media engine that can turn a 15-minute video into a user-acquisition event without paying the usual fintech ad-tax. It’s vertical integration for the attention economy: the creator who mastered converting views into chocolate sales is now trying to convert trust into deposits and long-term financial habits, with Beast Industries signaling bigger ambitions under the “MrBeast Financial” banner.
MrBeast isn't alone in recognizing that the future of financial services belongs to whoever owns the customer relationship. Halfway around the world, Grab just agreed to acquire Stash - a superapp with 50m monthly users in Southeast Asia bolting on a U.S.-based AI-powered investment platform with $5b in AUM. The thesis is the same: if you already have the attention and the daily engagement, layering in financial products is a margin expansion play, not a moonshot. Whether it's a ride-hailing giant in Singapore or a 27-year-old content creator in North Carolina, the playbook converges on one insight - distribution is the moat, and regulated financial infrastructure is increasingly available for purchase.
Put together, these deals rhyme: the new moat in finance isn’t just better rates or prettier cards - it’s owning the relationship before someone else does. Attention and engagement are becoming the upstream raw materials of modern banking. So don’t be shocked if the next big “viral challenge” is saving $1,000, and the prize is… compound interest.
Portfolio News
Vestwell raises $385m to power the future of saving - The round was led by Blue Owl Capital and Sixth Street Growth, with participation from new and existing investors, including Neuberger Berman, SLW, Morgan Stanley, Franklin Templeton, TIAA Ventures, and HarbourVest. The financing doubles Vestwell's valuation since its 2023 Series D and brings total capital raised to $660m. Vestwell has surpassed $200m in annual recurring revenue and continues to grow profitably. Read more
Plaid and Backbase team on faster bank customer onboarding - The collaboration is designed to tackle what the companies say is one of the biggest challenges in banking: data fragmentation that impedes innovation and limits the customer experience. The partnership aims to address this issue by melding Plaid’s financial data connectivity with Backbase’s platform. Read more
CoinCover appoints Jeremy Verba as CEO, succeeding co-founder David Janczewski - Having been CoinCover CEO for almost eight years, David Janczewski will transition to being a key advisor at the firm, serving on the company’s board. Verba brings over 25 years of leadership experience to the role, having previously served at a number of large corporations across various industries, including Walmart, eHarmony, and most recently HemoCept, which he led as executive chairman. Read more
OXIO ranked #1 and named established market leader in Juniper Research’s 2026 MVNO Solutions Report - Juniper Research ranked OXIO highest overall for its cloud-based, programmable core network and Telecom-as-a-Service platform. The research firm also highlighted OXIO’s enablement of highly differentiated use cases, including secure eSIM authentication and compliant global financial services communications, as central to its leadership position. Read more
Subscribe, Like, and Deposit
Grab buys investment app Stash at $425m valuation after posting first full-year profit - With $5b in assets under management and over a million paying subscribers, Stash provides an AI-powered investing platform to Grab, which has been expanding the superapp to include payments, lending, and digital banking on the back of its food delivery and ride-hailing services. Read more
YouTube star MrBeast buys youth-focused financial services app Step - Beast Industries said in a press release Step’s over 7m users, technology platform and in-house fintech team would complement its large digital audience and philanthropic initiatives. Read more
Industry News
CME Group to launch 24/7 cryptocurrency futures and options trading on May 29 - CME Group, the world's leading derivatives marketplace, today announced that its regulated Cryptocurrency futures and options will be available for trading 24 hours a day, seven days a week, pending regulatory review. Read more
What AI means for software builders - and software business models - AI is transforming software by automating code creation and shifting pricing from seat based models to usage based economics, challenging incumbents, empowering AI native startups and compressing industry margins. The Information digs in. Read more
British banks hold talks to find alternative to Visa and Mastercard - Executives from the country’s banking giants will meet this week on the project, driven by fears that the U.S. could shut off access to American payment systems. Roughly 95% of card transactions in the U.K. are made with Mastercard/Visa-owned systems. That dominance has grown much more relevant as the U.K. becomes less dependent on hard currency. Read more
States encroach on prediction markets - Well-known CFTC-registered exchanges used by tens of millions of Americans face an onslaught of state-driven litigation across the country, with nearly 50 active cases presenting a range of legal challenges. The most common allegation is that these contracts are a form of gambling and therefore subject to state laws. Read more
SoftBank’s PayPay gets closer to US IPO in milestone for Japan - Japan’s dominant QR-code payments application may list as early as March, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. PayPay is seeking a valuation of more than $10b. Read more
Retail investors to get access to SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic with new fund - Powerlaw Corp, a fund holding stakes in SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic, is filing to list shares in New York, giving everyday investors access to some of the biggest private tech companies. Until now, retail investors have missed out on explosive growth like OpenAI's surge from under $30b to a potential $830b valuation in just a few years - gains that have largely been inaccessible to individual investors. Read more
Select Financings
Avantos - New York based onboarding system for financial institutions raised $25m in Series A funding led by Bessemer Venture Partners. Read more
Copla - Europe based financial services compliance startup raised €6m in Series A funding led by Baltic DeepTech and others. Read more
EFEX - Mexico City and Palo Alto based global treasury and cross-border payments company for middle market companies raised $8m in Seed funding led by PayPal Ventures and Floodgate. Read more
Gyde - Austin based AI-powered insurance brokerage raised $60m in new funding led by Lightspeed. Read more
Kavak - Mexico based online used car dealer raised $300m in new funding led by Andreessen Horowitz. Read more
Monark Markets - New York based private markets infrastructure startup raised $8.1m in new funding led by F-Prime. Read more
Novig - New York based sports prediction market raised $75m in Series B funding led by Pantera Capital. Read more
Onshore - New York based corporate tax incentives startup raised $31m in Series B funding led by FPV Ventures. Read more
Payra - Nashville based accounts receivables company for construction raised $15m in new funding led by Edison Partners. Read more
Rainfall Health - San Francisco based reimbursement platform for hospitals and medical groups raised $15m in Series A funding led by Two Bear Capital. Read more
Sphinx - San Francisco based compliance agent startup for financial institutions raised $7.1m in Seed funding led by Cherry Ventures. Read more
Stable Money - India based fixed income investment startup raised $25m in new funding led by Peak XV Partners. Read more
Stacks - Amsterdam based accounting AI company raised $23m in Series A funding led by Lightspeed. Read more
Stake - Dubai based fractional property investment platform raised $31m in Series B funding led by Emirates NBD. Read more
Zero Homes - Colorado based home upgrade marketplace raised $16.8m in Series A funding led by Prelude Ventures. Read more
FinTech Collective Newsletter
Curated News with Context
Delivered every Monday, the weekly newsletter, produced by our team, provides a tightly edited rundown of global fintech news, along with a bit of our original analysis.