MrBeast acquires Step

MrBeast is buying a bank. Sort of.

Beast Industries just acquired Step, a Gen Z-focused fintech app with over 7 million users and more than $500 million raised from firms like General Catalyst, Coatue, and Stripe.

Yes, the most-subscribed YouTuber on Earth is now in consumer banking.

Step helps teens and young adults build credit, save money, and invest. It has also attracted celebrity investors including Charli D’Amelio, Will Smith, The Chainsmokers, and Stephen Curry.

Now it has Jimmy Donaldson, who reaches 466 million subscribers across YouTube alone.

A leaked pitch deck last year showed Beast Industries exploring financial services and even a potential low-cost mobile carrier. Feastables, his chocolate brand, is reportedly more profitable than both his YouTube channel and Prime Video show.

The creator economy is shifting from influence to financial control.

The Dealsync beta is live. Here’s what we found in your inboxes.

Two weeks back we rolled out Dealsync to our first 500 creators.

For those who missed it, Dealsync connects to your Gmail and uses AI to find, categorize, and surface brand deals buried in your inbox and provide a full-email client for managing them. No manual sorting. No spreadsheets. It just works in the background.

We knew creators were drowning in email. We didn't know how much money was drowning with them.

Here's what we uncovered looking at just the last 30 days of inbox activity across our first 500 users:

Over 11,700 legitimate brand deals identified. That's an average of 24 real deals per creator.

15 of those deals per inbox had never been responded to. Not declined. Not missed on purpose. Just buried under noise.

At even conservative deal values, that's well over a million dollars in opportunities sitting unanswered. For 500 people. In one month.

We also filtered out over 541,000 irrelevant emails — 96.5% of everything in those inboxes was noise. We flagged an average of 2.5 scam offers per creator. And we saved each user roughly 2 hours in their first week just by cutting through the clutter.

Here's what gets us excited: we only looked back 30 days. The full picture is almost certainly bigger.

If you're managing brand deals through email — and let's be honest, almost everyone is there's a very good chance you have unanswered money sitting in your inbox right now.

Dealsync was built to make sure you never miss another one.

Apple expands into video podcasts

Apple announced integrated video support inside Apple Podcasts launching this spring, directly challenging YouTube and Spotify in a market that has quietly gone video-first.

Video podcasts now account for more than 40% of total podcast consumption.

Meanwhile, YouTube has become the dominant podcast platform, offering algorithmic discovery, memberships, Super Chat, and robust analytics.

Spotify has spent billions building video infrastructure and locking in exclusives. Apple Podcasts, despite being pre-installed on over 2 billion devices, remained audio-only.

What this means for creators

• Distribution is expanding, but so is complexity. One more platform means more reach, and more operational overhead.

• Video is now the default format. Audio alone is no longer competitive for growth.

• Apple has hardware scale, YouTube has algorithmic scale, Spotify has capital scale. Creators must decide where their revenue compounds fastest.

The podcast wars are no longer about hosting audio feeds. They are about controlling video attention and monetization inside closed ecosystems.

The new era of creator ownership has arrived

Millions now earn income through digital platforms. Brand budgets continue shifting toward creators. Platforms are investing heavily in creator-led content.

For many younger workers, creating is no longer a side hustle. It is the job. But ownership has not scaled with visibility.

Most creators do not own the platforms they rely on. They do not control distribution. And they rarely participate in the long-term upside of the brands they help build.

A creator can drive millions in sales and still receive a flat fee. No equity. No royalties. No participation when the company exits.

Visibility is up. Security is not.

Accounts can be hacked. Algorithms can change. Platforms can ban or throttle reach without warning.

What looks like a business can disappear overnight.

🔥 Hot Opportunities

We’ve had 7 new jobs added in the past week from Logitech, Anker, Naked Curve (🌶️ spicy), Soniox, Hair Blending Systems, Create It & KINETK! So head over the jobs board and start earning.

For Brands - need creators for a gifting, affiliate, streaming, paid campaign, or anything else? Get creator candidates fast and free, just fill out this form or click below and get your first qualified candidates within 24-36 hours of going live. No hidden costs or fees.

Dealsync Ambassador Program Free Product + Referral Rewards

Want to get paid to promote Dealsync? Apply to become a Dealsync ambassador! 

Dealsync ambassadors receive free access to Dealsync, 15% commission on all referralls for 12 months, and other opportunities to win big.

Logitech Creator Program – Free Gear for Gaming & Content Creators (Products Valued $100–$1,500+)

Logitech is running two creator programs offering free gear to gaming and content creators—no minimum follower count required. Whether you're a streamer, gamer, podcaster, or UGC creator, you can apply to receive products like mice, keyboards, webcams, microphones, lighting, and more (valued $100–$1,500+).

You'll also get Streamlabs Ultra trials and pre-release access to new products. Paid opportunities may be available for larger creators.

KINETK Seeks Creators to Test Content Protection Platform ($50 Gift Card + Free Premium Access)

KINETK, a venture-backed content protection platform, is looking for creators to beta test their new tool that tracks where your content travels across the internet—and protects it from theft, uncredited reposts, and misuse. In exchange for a short 15-30 second video sharing your experience, you'll receive a $50 gift card + 2 weeks free premium access.

If you've ever had your content stolen or reposted without credit, this one's for you.

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👋 Happy Networking!

~ Brian F.

_{Content We Referenced Today}

• _{MrBeast’s company buys Gen Z-focused fintech app Step - https://techcrunch.com/2026/02/09/mrbeasts-company-buys-gen-z-focused-fintech-app-step/}

• _{Apple Launches Video Podcasts, Taking Aim at YouTube's Creator Economy - https://www.techbuzz.ai/articles/apple-launches-video-podcasts-taking-aim-at-youtube-s-creator-economy}

• _{The Creator Economy Is Booming—but Most Creators Still Don’t Own Much. Can That Change? - https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasminebrowley/2026/01/27/the-creator-economy-is-booming-but-most-creators-still-dont-own-much-can-that-change/}