eCabs Technologies appoints John Catania as Chief Technology Officer

Taxi and ride-hailing software provider eCabs Technologies has appointed John Catania as its new Chief Technology Officer, as the Maltese-founded company gears up to launch its platform into a growing roster of new international markets.

Mr Catania takes the CTO seat of the St Julians-based company at what the company describes as a “pivotal moment for the company.”

eCabs Technologies currently powers operators in Malta, Romania, Germany, Sweden, Greece, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and Australia, with new launches in at least four new jurisdictions in the next three months.

Among those new launches will be the lead taxi operator in a major Latin American capital city.  

New city partners, Mr Catania said, are signing on every couple of weeks, bringing fresh market insights that are already reshaping the product roadmap.

Mr Catania, who joined eCabs Technologies as Head of Product Development twenty months ago, steps into the CTO role after leading a comprehensive audit of the company’s engineering workflows and tech stack.

Working alongside the engineering, product and operations teams, he helped double software release frequency within months and, over the past year, drove cloud and infrastructure optimisations that significantly reduced operating costs, savings the company says have been passed on to clients through more competitive platform pricing.

A University of Malta graduate with a BSc (Honours) in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, Mr Catania built his career at several local software houses before joining Altaro Software as a developer. He rose to lead the teams behind three of Altaro's core products, serving hundreds of thousands of customers worldwide, and was part of the team when the Maltese startup was acquired by German firm Hornet Security in a multi-million euro transaction widely regarded as one of Malta’s standout tech exits.

“My core objective is to replicate the international scaling success I witnessed and contributed to at Altaro,” Mr Catania said.

“We want to solidify our foundations and build a world-class technology headquarters right here in Malta, ensuring we have the talent and structure required to launch products globally.”

Among the near-term priorities: a new in-app Driver-Rider chat feature, a long-overdue UX revamp of the rider and driver applications, and the integration of multiple global payment providers, a move that will allow city partners to secure more competitive processing fees in their respective regions. The company is also doubling down on keeping its engineering team lean.

“We are built by operators for operators. Whether you’re scaling an existing taxi ride-hailing operation or launching a new one, we have the software, the knowhow, and the team to help you transform and grow your business,” the company said.