Adam Froman is founder and CEO of Delvinia, and a board member of the Council of Canadian Innovators. Here’s an uncomfortable truth: we are heading into 2026 with more uncertainty than any technology scale-up founder or CEO in Canada has seen in a long time, if ever. The trade and tariff wars have only begun…
BetaKit is ending the year with a look back at the biggest tech stories of 2025. With more to come throughout December, you can read the full series here. There’s a lovely Isaac Asimov short story that starts in the year 2061 with the last question humans will ever ask. In the story, humanity has…
There was a time when accepting payments felt like the easy part for retailers. A customer swiped their card, a terminal blinked, and the sale moved through. But commerce is no longer straightforward. Every year, many retailers and other ecosystem players have to keep up with new forms of payment like digital wallets, evolving cybersecurity…
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. The eye-watering deal, which Groq framed as a non-exclusive licensing partnership, brings key Groq executives over to Nvidia and…
Amoye Henry is an investor, ecosystem catalyst and global consultant backing visionaries and challenging the status quo. She is the co-founder of Pitch Better, a startup that trains entrepreneurs to build and scale sustainable small businesses. In 2020, I wrote an article for BetaKit titled “The horrifying truth of being a Black woman founder in Canada.”…
Canada will no longer accept applications for its Start-Up Visa (SUV) Program starting Jan. 1, 2026, but the feds have signalled that a new “pilot program” for immigrant entrepreneurs will be coming next year. The feds have also suspended SUV work permit applications, which were previously available as a stopgap for applicants awaiting a PR…
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM In a year marked by rapid change, scientific progress gave us reasons to wonder, dream, and keep pushing forward. For our Best of 2025 Science roundup, we’re celebrating the breakthroughs that didn’t just advance human knowledge; they sparked possibility, opened new frontiers, and reminded us why curiosity is a…
In what has become an annual tradition, The BetaKit Podcast has returned to stuff your holiday stocking with the biggest tech stories of 2025. But I can’t do it alone. So my holiday wish has been granted, and I Amazon overnighted my brother in pod, Rob Kenedi, host of the Decelerator podcast! “2025 is the…
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Welcome to our Best of 2025 spotlight on the environment, which we all know is one of the most dynamic and urgent spaces for innovation and impact. This year brought some truly awe-inspiring breakthroughs in sustainability, conservation, and climate resilience. These stories remind us that when creativity and science…
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM Welcome to our Best of 2025 spotlight on the environment, which we all know is one of the most dynamic and urgent spaces for innovation and impact. This year brought some truly awe-inspiring breakthroughs in sustainability, conservation, and climate resilience. These stories remind us that when creativity and science…
