Happy New Year!
If you are just easing yourself back into work after a restful holiday break, consider this newsletter one of the more helpful deposits crowding your inbox. The BetaKit team has you covered with all the big news that broke over the holidays, plus our complete #CDNtech 2025 series on the defining tech stories of the year.
I do have a bonus submission to that series, and it’s guaranteed to remove any mistletoe and eggnog-induced holiday fog that might remain.
First, the data point that has been sticking in my craw since September: only one-third of “high-potential startups” created in 2024 are still headquartered in Canada in 2025, with half of those companies fleeing to the US.
Here’s another: Canadians under 30 are the unhappiest age group in the country (they were the happiest age group in 2011—a fall so steep it’s matched only by Jordan, Venezuela, Lebanon and Afghanistan).
Two more: one-quarter of Canadians are uncertain about their employment status for 2026, and over half of Gen Z is looking for a new job.
As I have grown older, I think more and more about the next generation of Canadian entrepreneurs, and the choices I would make if I were their age now. I used to worry about Canada’s lost generation, but Socratica’s Symposium (where the above photo was taken) convinced me that the kids are alright.
Now, I worry that they’re better off building outside of Canada. Many have told BetaKit that explicitly.
I don’t think this story will stay in 2025. I think we’ll see its impact in 2026 and the years to come.
Douglas Soltys
Editor-in-chief
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Groq’s staggering Nvidia deal has strong Canadian connections
Over the holidays, Nvidia came calling for AI-infrastructure startup Groq to the tune of a reported $20 billion USD. Several Canadian investors who backed the San Jose, Calif.-based startup are poised to cash out, big-time.
Canada suspends Start-Up Visa as feds look to transition to new program
After wait times ballooned to more than 10 years for new applicants, the feds have suspended a program for immigrant entrepreneurs, leaving potential applicants in the lurch as they await a “new, targeted pilot program” supposedly coming in 2026.
Whitney Rockley, VC and diversity advocate, named to Order of Canada
Rockley is the co-founder of McRock Capital, and advisory board chair of the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business. In 2017, she became the first woman to chair the Canadian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association in the organization’s then 43-year history.
Meet the tech startup casting extras for Shoresy, Hot Frosty, and other Canadian hits
Background Work, a fully bootstrapped Ottawa company that launched last year, has developed a platform for Canadian background actors (meaning, anyone!) to find and land vetted, paid jobs on production sets for film production companies like Lifetime, Hallmark, and Paramount.
Clicks releases a phone for your phone, giving users a taste of BlackBerry
Clicks Technology got its start making keyboard cases for smartphones, with buttons that give users a taste of the BlackBerry-dominated 2000s. Now the company is releasing its own phone to turn back the clock for a new generation.
Canadian Food Inspection Agency suspends Goodfood’s safe food licence
The suspension prohibits the Montréal-based company from “conducting any activity” for which the licence was issued, which could include importing, exporting, manufacturing, or packaging food for sale in Canada.
The meal-kit company has had a tough year, losing both cofounders, experiencing a decrease in customers, and facing a possible class-action lawsuit over its delivery fees.
Opinion: The Black women founders reshaping Canada’s venture future
Five years after sharing her journey through an op-ed for BetaKit, Pitch Better co-founder Amoye Henry returns to Canada’s venture story.
“I see signs of progress. Fragile, imperfect, incomplete; but progress nonetheless,” Henry writes.
Opinion: Why 2026 needs to be the year of scale-ups for Canada
In an op-ed for BetaKit, Delvinia CEO Adam Froman says Canada’s economic future depends on a small group of companies—scale-ups that have grown beyond the startup stage and need to expand in Canada or be taken over by foreign firms.
FEATURED STORIES FROM OUR PARTNERS
The pressure points shaping payments in Canada
Canadian merchants juggling multiple systems, rising fraud, and global expansion headaches now have a solution. Mastercard’s Merchant Cloud unifies payments, security, and fraud detection into one platform. Mastercard senior VP Balinder Ahluwalia shares how Canadian businesses can simplify operations, reduce risk, and scale with confidence.
Canadian small businesses finally have what they’ve been waiting for: a timeline for consumer-driven banking
Small business owners have struggled with slow payments, manual reporting, and cash flow blind spots. Canada’s open banking rollout promises real-time financial tools, faster access to capital, and smarter decision-making. Mike Cascone, VP of Government Relations at Xero, explains how consumer-driven banking can finally give entrepreneurs the clarity they need to grow.
BETAKIT’S #CDNTECH 2025 WRAPPED
To close the year, BetaKit looks back at the defining Canadian tech stories of 2025.
- In 2025, Canada woke up to the possibility of buying and building Canadian. Here’s Madison McLauchlan on the year Canada realized it needs sovereign tech.
- With billions set to flow into the country’s defence industry, Canadian tech is angling for a cut. Here’s Josh Scott on the year Canadian tech embraced defence.
- In 2025, some of Canada’s most influential tech leaders leaned hard into an AI-first ideology. Here’s Trevor Nichols on the year every Canadian startup went AI-first.
- In 2025, we were given an opportunity to consider how we can build better digital lives. Here’s Sarah Rieger on the year enshittification became undeniable.
- In 2025, Canadian tech’s reengagement with federal politics had many parallels with the prior decade. Here’s Alex Riehl and Douglas Soltys on the year Canadian tech got political (again).
The BetaKit Podcast — The biggest tech questions of 2026
“Maybe we will see the robots that we want in our lives in 2026. But be prepared: they will definitely be controlled by people in India with Xbox controllers.”
Robots, and IPOs, and AI, Oh My! Managing editor Sarah Rieger joins to ask the biggest tech questions of 2026, after evaluating which 2025 tech questions were definitively answered.
The ultimate 2025 #CDNtech quiz
Think you’re on top of Canadian tech and innovation news? Time to prove it. Start 2026 with a refresher of last year’s headlines: one question for every month.
Feature illustration courtesy Madison McLauchlan based on a photo from Socratica’s Freeman Jiang.