“Do you do New Year’s resolutions?”
This was the question posed to me by my business partner at the start of our very first meeting of 2025.
You know, the charming and successful tech entrepreneur who then went on to explain how he runs annual goal-setting sessions for both his family and his family office. That business partner.
Such an aggressive blend of preparedness and personal introspection had me looking around the room for an escape hatch to crawl back into 2024.
But it’s best to fight those feelings. A bunch of dead historical figures have made the point that plans are worthless, but planning is everything, and I’m inclined to agree. The New Year is one of the few moments our society collectively encourages a fresh start: the opportunity to redefine who you are, or at least the direction you want to go. Don’t squander it.
If you’re looking for inspiration, below you’ll find some partner content featuring ecosystem leaders offering their resolutions. If you prefer empirical analysis, the latest edition of The BetaKit Quiz is for you.
You may just need someone to share your plan with, to make it more real. Share it with me. I won’t tell anyone what it is, I promise. I might even share mine.
Happy New Year, Douglas Soltys
Editor-in-chief
TOP STORIES OF THE WEEK
Bench had a crazier holiday break than your startup
On Fri. Dec. 27, Vancouver-based bookkeeping tech company Bench Accounting abruptly ceased operations, leaving hundreds of employees out of work and thousands of small business customers in the lurch with 2025 just around the corner.
Three days after closing its doors, Bench announced that it had struck a last-minute deal to be acquired by San Francisco-based human resources tech startup Employer.com for an undisclosed amount.
Province funnels $9 million into Québec Tech amid critiques over government spending
As the Québec government continues to execute its five-year innovation plan, some ecosystem players are calling it a spendthrift approach, prompting a government defence of its financial aid to startups.
“To be a world-class company, you must have the best technology. How could a Québec-based company rival a foreign company that produces more, for less money, at a global scale? The answer is it cannot, without help,” Québec’s new Innovation Minister, Christopher Skeete, wrote in a French LinkedIn post.
Wrong answers only: industry continues to grapple with “inherent characteristic” of GenAI
At the two-year mark after the launch of OpenAI’s large-language model-powered chatbot ChatGPT, and with it, the explosion of generative artificial intelligence into the public consciousness, the technology’s growing pains and future evolution dominated conversations at Amazon Web Services’ re:Invent conference in Las Vegas.
Hallucination is “really an inherent characteristic of LLMs itself,” said Pradeep Prabhakaran, a senior manager of solution architecture at Cohere, during a panel discussion at the conference.
Fiserv to acquire Payfare in $201.5-million CAD deal after swiping its DoorDash business
American FinTech giant Fiserv is set to acquire Toronto-based Payfare for $201.5 million CAD ($140 million USD), capping off a turbulent year for the payments processor that included a share price plummet and a strategic review after it lost out on DoorDash’s business to the very company it’s being acquired by.
FEATURED STORIES FROM OUR PARTNERS
In partnership with NorthGuide, BetaKit kicked off 2025 with a spotlight on New Year’s resolutions from Canadian tech leaders.
- VCs like Danielle Graham (The Firehood), Sarah Young (Sandpiper Ventures), and Joshua Nilson (Maskwa Investments) shared what they plan to do more (and less) of in the new year. Read more.
- Founders including Alwar Pillai (Fable), Ruslan Nikolaev (Float), and Hongwei Liu (Mappedin) revealed their moonshot goals for 2025. Read more.
- Ecosystem leaders like Anthonia Ogundele (Ethos Lab), Kathryn Lockhart (Propel), and Abdullah Snobar (DMZ) reflected on what Canada’s collective resolution should be. Read more.
Weekly Canadian Deals & Dollars
- TOR – Thomson Reuters acquires SafeSend for $867M CAD
- MTL – Valsoft secures $216.7M CAD to support more acquisitions
- MTL – BrainBox AI acquired by Trane Technologies for undisclosed amount
The BetaKit Podcast
The BetaKit Podcast – The biggest tech stories of 2024
“We are about to see a bunch of people who are powerful, successful, and feel like they know the best way to do things, bring this approach into government.”
The BetaKit Podcast reviews the biggest tech stories of 2024 before doling out annual letter grades for Shopify, Wealthsimple, Cohere, and many more. A podcast so good we had to record it twice.
Have a different take on 2024? Let us know: podcast@betakit.com.
The BetaKit Podcast – 2025 tech predictions: embrace chaos
“Part of my prediction for 2025 is embracing or acknowledging that chaos reigns.”
AI agents. Political shenanigans. A Canadian tech acquisition that will shock you. And a Big Tech breakup that you might expect. After choosing chalk last year, The BetaKit Podcast adds some spice to its 2025 tech predictions.
Have a different take on 2025? Let us know: podcast@betakit.com.
THE BETAKIT QUIZ
Take The BetaKit Quiz – This week: Which tech health trend should you embrace in 2025?
This week’s BetaKit Quiz helps you find your New Year’s wellness trend.
Take The BetaKit Quiz – Thirteen Canadian tech mic-drop moments of 2024.
Match the Canadian tech leader to their quote in The BetaKit Quiz.
Feature image courtesy Logan Voss via Unsplash.