Trudeau’s final bow, Bench’s bounceback, 1Password vs. shadow IT

Vancouver-based Bench Accounting had a chaotic holiday season, to say the least, as all three events unfolded in quick succession.

On Dec. 27, Bench abruptly ceased operations and laid off its 450 employees, leaving thousands of small business customers in the lurch. Three days later, Bench announced that it had struck a last-minute deal to be acquired by San Francisco-based Employer.com for an undisclosed amount.

Founder and CEO Tamer Mohamed has likened Aspect’s 3D bioprinting technology to Star Trek’s replicator machine. Instead of food and drink on demand, Aspect’s tech would create healthy tissue to replace, repair, or support biological functions that have gone awry. Mohamed said the Series B round announced this week will help Aspect realize its goal of bringing these tissue therapies into clinical use.

Fiserv announced plans to acquire Payfare, after poaching its DoorDash business just months earlier. In October, Payfare initiated a strategic review after DoorDash had decided not to renew its agreement with Payfare, which was powering DoorDash’s DasherDirect program. Fiserv is set to complete its $201.5-million CAD acquisition of Payfare in the first half of 2025.

Carbon6 co-founder Naseem Saloojee said the company was grateful to land a rare nine-figure Canadian tech exit. The startup, which helps Amazon merchants manage their sales, is set to be acquired for $301 million CAD.

“I think something that we haven’t seen to the greatest extent is a substantial number of … nine-figure tech exits, and so I feel a lot of gratitude that we’ve been able to get there,” Saloojee told BetaKit.

Valsoft, which acquires and scales vertical software companies, was founded by Sam Youssef and Steph Manos. They previously founded MindGeek, the embattled parent company of Pornhub and other adult websites. Youssef told the Montréal Gazette in 2023 that he “got out of the business” in 2008 and sold his stake in 2010.

The URL shop.ca, once the home of a Canadian e-commerce player, will now redirect to Shopify’s Amazon-like online megastore. Shopify purchased the domains shop.ca and shop.us from Toronto-based Emerge Commerce for $375,000 USD.

Shop.ca was an early Canadian Amazon competitor, providing an e-commerce platform and digital marketplace. The company received a healthy amount of venture funding, but eventually laid off most of its staff before declaring bankruptcy in 2016.

“Shadow IT” refers to the use of unauthorized tools or systems within an organization without IT oversight. 1Password’s acquisition of Trelica gives the firm access to technology that allows security teams to discover and manage access to previously unknown and unmanaged applications.

1Password CEO Jeff Shiner told BetaKit that Trelica represents 1Password’s largest-ever acquisition by company revenue, but declined to share exact figures.

Blue Action Canada will focus on startups developing ocean technology solutions, including offshore energy, ocean monitoring and data collection, aquaculture, and coastal resilience. The accelerator was launched by the Victoria-based Centre for Ocean Applied Sustainable Technologies (COAST) in partnership with Founders Factory and Blue Action.

The surprise resignation of Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland—hours before she was scheduled to deliver the fall economic statement—sparked calls from both inside and outside of the Liberal Party for Trudeau to step down, a demand he met early this week.

“This country deserves a real choice in the next election and it has become clear to me that if I’m having to fight internal battles, I cannot be the best option in that election,” the prime minister told the nation this week. Trudeau will remain in Canada’s top job until the Liberals select a new leader.