The News category in the Press Section of the eCabs website

Here one can find informative and interesting articles which the tech mobility company publishes from time to time.

Please click on the photo above each item to access the original article.

Blue officially launches in Romania, powered by eCabs Technologies platform

Blue officially launches in Romania, powered by eCabs Technologies platform

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Caption: eCabs Technologies CEO Matthew Bezzina (second from right) and Stephanie Portanier Mifsud, eCabs Technologies Cities Product Manager (far left) with the Blue leadership in Bucharest, Romania.

Autonom Drive, the largest mobility operator in the Romanian market has selected the eCabs Technologies platform to launch Blue, a new ride hailing service in Bucharest, Romania.

Powered by the eCabs ride-hailing technology platform, Blue is set to be an important player in shaping the ride hailing landscape in Romania, providing a seamless online ride-hailing solution for riders as well as safe and flexible work for drivers.

Blue is launching its service with a fleet of the latest Tesla Models 3 and Y and is available for download on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

Blue officially launches in Romania, powered by eCabs Technologies platform

This is the third territory in which the eCabs ride-hailing platform has been deployed, serving as the backbone for local transport businesses to launch their app-based ride hailing service under their own brand.

The use of eCabs technology in Bucharest, follows the launch of Taxi.gr app in Athens, Greece earlier this month.

With a fleet of over 12,000 vehicles and a workforce exceeding 600, Autonom Drive is a leading corporate in the mobility industry, operating in over 33 cities in Romania and Hungary.

An important player in shaping the ride-hailing landscape

Speaking during the official launch event in Bucharest on Wednesday September 27, eCabs Technologies Founder and Chief Executive Officer Matthew Bezzina said the successful roll-out of the service in Romania with a reputable player such as Autonom, is a strong confirmation of the global grade of eCabs’ technology stack and the capabilities of its people.

The Blue mobility service is set to be an important player in shaping the ride-hailing landscape in Romania, with a more efficient, quality-driven service, and like eCabs’ Malta, operating a unique 24/7 customer care and operations centre.

“We are thrilled to be working with Autonom and its team of professionals on this exciting project in the beautiful capital of Bucharest. The growth potential for Blue is evident, also very much fuelled by Autonom’s serious approach to business. I have no doubt that the strength of our technology platform combined with their focus and corporate stature will deliver exceptional results,” Bezzina said.

“This second launch in a few weeks, comes as we are engaged in discussions with corporate partners in key cities in Europe and beyond, to assist them in venturing into ride hailing business through our unique model, offering 13 years of packaged operational knowledge together with our bespoke multi-channel technology,” he added.

Bezzina added that the vision of taking eCabs Technologies to new heights would not have been possible without the support of the Malta Development Bank.

“The MDB has believed in and supported our internationalisation project from the very start, understanding our relentless drive to take our locally built technology overseas. Each city we launch in is a testament to their trust and support to help finance this growth which has helped make our vision a reality,” Bezzina said.

A safer and reliable service

Blue Managing Partner Andrei Stancu said the transport market in Romania is ripe for change and Blue is poised to deliver a safe, reliable, and affordable solution.

“The ride-hailing market in Romania is typically characterised by low standards of service and old vehicles, fuelled by cheap prices. At Blue, we made the conscious decision to fill and own a gap in the market, offering a safer and reliable round the clock service, using world class tech powering modern, high quality owned and partner fleets” Stancu said.

“After a thorough vendor analysis exercise, we chose to power our brand with the eCabs Technologies platform, and we’ve had an excellent understanding with the eCabs Team from the get-go. We are very optimistic about the future of Blue and the excellent business relationship we have with eCabs Technologies” he added. 

The Romanian Market

Romania’s transportation market presents an exciting opportunity. With a population of over 20 million, and more than 11 million annual tourist arrivals. Whilst Blue has started its journey in the Romanian capital of Bucharest, the plan is for national growth.

And, with a significant portion of Romanian rides still waved down from the curb or booked over the phone, there is major potential for transformation and growth in the ride hailing market. 

Tailor-made tech

Built in one of the world’s densest road networks and most competitive ride-hailing environments, eCabs Technologies provides a unique model in the international white label ride-hailing business – one which combines 13 years of 24/7 intimate operational expertise and a powerful, multi-channel technology platform.

This allows businesses all over the world to use the platform together with eCabs invaluable industry expertise and experience, to successfully launch their brands in any jurisdiction.

In the press:

Times of Malta | Malta Today | Lovin Malta | Who’s Who

eCabs Technologies ride-hailing platform lands in Greece

eCabs Technologies ride-hailing platform lands in Greece

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taxi.gr officially launches in September

eCabs Technologies is set to deploy its ride-hailing platform in Athens, Greece, as it begins taking its industry expertise and operational know-how to new jurisdictions. 

The taxi.gr ride-hailing app, developed at the eCabs headquarters in St Julian’s, Malta, and operated by Intelligent Mobility App S.A. based in Athens, Greece, provides a seamless online ride-hailing solution for riders as well as safe and flexible work for drivers, empowering individuals to move and work on their own terms.

It is the first territory where eCabs Technologies’ ride-hailing platform is being launched with other international jurisdictions also in the pipeline.

eCabs Technologies Founder and Chief Executive Officer Matthew Bezzina said the upcoming launch in Athens in September is the fruition of years of research and development and months of collaboration with its partners in Greece. 

The taxi.gr platform is set to be an important player in shaping the digital transformation of the ride-hailing landscape in Greece.

“We are really proud of what we have created and what the company has accomplished. Growing eCabs from a small three-man start-up in 2010 to a group of companies employing over 400 people and a technology company with industry-leading talent. Now we are excited for eCabs to be flying the Maltese flag in the international ride-hailing industry beyond Malta’s shores,” he said. 

On his part, Manos Koronakos, CEO of Intelligent Mobility App S.A. said, “This is a great opportunity and a perfect time for us to be launching our Taxi.gr ride-hailing platform, in a market that is ripe for digital growth. We are very excited to be working with eCabs Technologies with whom we have forged a great understanding and relationship”. 

Manos Koronakos, CEO of Intelligent Mobility App S.A. with Matthew Bezzina, CEO of eCabs Technologies.

Digitising an offline market

Athens’ transportation market presents an exciting opportunity. 

With a population of well over three million people, and more than six million annual tourist arrivals, the Greek capital has significant potential for growth. 

And, with a significant portion of Greek rides still waved down from the curb or booked over the phone, the ride-hailing options for users remain largely offline. 

Recognising the digital transformation sweeping through the industry globally, eCabs Technologies sought to create a dynamic online solution that caters to the needs of both riders and drivers alike.

“At eCabs Technologies we believe that by digitising the transport sector, we can unlock its potential.  This is what we have been driving towards everyday. Taking our tech to new, exciting jurisdictions like Athens is a big step towards achieving this goal,” Bezzina said. 

Tailor-made tech

The eCabs engineering team in Malta developed a turnkey, white-label tech solution.

This allows businesses all over the world to use the platform together with eCabs industry expertise and experience, to successfully launch their brands in any jurisdiction. 

The tech solution is also developed with bespoke country and city-specific features. 

The taxi.gr platform being launched in Greece for instance, features a new in-app pricing model based on the metering requirements set by Helenic transport regulators. 

eCabs Technologies ride-hailing platform lands in Greece

Bezzina said that all new tailor-made technology components that are developed in Malta for specific countries will further enrich the eCabs Technologies platform.

These features are designed to provide optimal support for international partners through efficient deployment of country-specific features that respect different jurisdictions’ needs and regulations.

Invaluable support

Bezzina said that the objective of taking eCabs Technologies to new heights would not have been possible without the support of the Malta Development Bank:

“The MDB has supported this project from the start, believing in our relentless mission to internationalise and take our locally built technology overseas. We are thankful for their trust and their support to help finance this growth which has helped make our vision a reality.”

To launch taxi.gr in Athens, eCabs Technologies has partnered with a major player in the Greek transportation industry and Bezzina said the eCabs team is excited to be working with them. 

Looking ahead, eCabs Technologies and its Greek partners have ambitious plans to extend the taxi.gr platform across mainland Greece and its islands, providing a convenient and reliable transportation solution to an even broader national audience.

As the partnership evolves, the focus will remain on enhancing the rider experience, providing economic opportunities for drivers, and contributing to the ongoing digital transformation of the transport sector.

eCabs Technologies meanwhile is also engaged in other internationalisation partnership projects and will be releasing further announcements in the coming months. 

“This is an exciting time for us – eCabs is moving from local to international, empowering ride hailing technology beyond its home shores, one partnership at a time,” Bezzina said.

In the Press:

Times of Malta | Lovin Malta | Who’s Who | TVM News | MaltaCEOs | Greek City Times

 

400 evergreen shrubs

eCabs plants 400 evergreen shrubs along St Julian’s promenade

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eCabs has partnered up with the St Julian’s local council to beautify St Julian’s promenade with 400 evergreen shrubs.

More than 400 evergreen shrubs are being planted along the St Julian’s promenade, in a collaboration between eCabs and the town’s local council.

The plants, an evergreen coastal shrub of the myrtle family, will dot the promenade stretching from Spinola Bay to Balluta.

They are being planted and maintained by a landscaper engaged by the St Julian’s local council.

The council partnered with eCabs, which is headquartered in St Julian’s, to acquire the shrubs.

eCabs said it believes that embracing different modes of transport is part of the solution towards improving urban spaces. The company has previously pledged to switch its entire fleet to electric vehicles by 2025.

In the press:

The Times of Malta

No change without political consensus 2

“There is no change without political consensus” – eCabs Technologies CEO

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Speaking at a Times of Malta event titled ‘The Road to Reliable Public Transport’ held on Wednesday 22nd February 2023, eCabs Technologies CEO Matthew Bezzina said that the time has come for certain measures to discourage the ownership of private cars.

However, in order for these measures to be consistent, there needed to be political consensus between the government and other political parties to ensure longevity.

Mr Bezzina stressed that it is no use for one government to agree to implement certain measures only to see them ignored or buried by the subsequent government.

“If we’re going to introduce paid on-street parking, it cannot succeed if it clashes with the car-centric policy we’ve been implementing,” he stated.

Mr Bezzina compared the situation to separated parents who have custody of a child, saying that they both must agree on certain rules. “For instance, if they both say no to junk food, the child benefits overall. This is the kind of political consensus that we need.”

The real cost of ‘public real estate’

Mr Bezzina also highlighted that parked cars are taking up an overwhelming amount of public space. Here again, political consensus was needed to find a solution, he said. He noted that parking spaces take up two-thirds of Maltese roads. Moreover, 75 percent of parked cars are on public land.

“Those could be bus lanes, scooter lanes, wider pavements, or avenues of trees. We have to see the opportunity in these spaces and truly consider the cost of this public real estate. What can we do with all this space that cars are occupying without contributing anything?”

One solution could lie within the ride hailing industry, as part of a transport mix towards sustainable multimodality that can unclog the roads on the densest country in the EU.

No change without political consensus

Other speakers at the event included Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects Dr Aaron Farrugia, economist Marie Briguglio, Malta Public Transport General Manager Konrad Pulé, and Head of Geography and Director of the Institute for Climate Change and Sustainable Development at the University of Malta Professor Maria Attard.

You can read more and watch the full event here.

eCabs internationalisation

eCabs primed for internationalisation by June 2023

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eCabs, Malta’s very own and only flag bearing ride-hailing platform powered by its proprietary technology and innovation powerhouse Cuorium Technologies, expects to reach its first landmark milestone in its internationalisation efforts by June 2023.

With consistent investment in technology talent and an unwavering resolve to expand in major EU cities, eCabs is now yielding the goals that could elevate Malta’s corporate and technology credentials on an international scale.

Business Today sat down with Matthew Bezzina, Chief Executive Officer at Cuorium Technologies and Luca Di Michele, Chief Technology Officer, to grasp an insight into one of the most exciting commercial ventures growing in Malta, charting the path for the eCabs flag to be sported in European cities.

Recently, eCabs has undergone a significant restructuring of its operations. Luca was promoted to Chief Technology Officer at eCabs. Matthew moved on to become the CEO of Cuorium Technologies while Andrew Bezzina was named the CEO of eCabs.

How did this major transformation come about?

Luca Di Michele: In 2019 I spearheaded the establishment of our proprietary ride hailing technology. Three years have flown by like a flash. It is extremely satisfying to look back and see how much ground we have covered and the growth we have achieved, moving us far ahead enough to make this quantum leap into the international market. During this period, we have gone through exciting phases of renewal and transformation, building a highly competent, enthusiastic team of dedicated professionals who are driven by an incredible passion and the ambition for creating ahead-of-the-curve mobility technologies and solutions.

Matthew Bezzina: Our joint efforts have resulted into impressive growth, despite the international economic climate and the upheaval caused by the pandemic. Faced with these challenges we had some fundamental choices to make. We could have either retrenched and focused on keeping on winning the local market battles or aspire to become an international brand in mobility technology and provision of ride-hailing services. We could have decided to do like many others and just invest in property or take the plunge and the risk that comes with a significant shareholder investment of €7 million. Today, we are reaping the first dividends of these decisions, wherein despite all the headwind we faced we now have a platform created in Malta that is ready to go beyond our borders and proudly fly our national flag in this growing tech driven industry.

How does this restructuring effort feature in the growth path of the Company and its platform?

MB: Our organisation’s transformation journey started kicked off in 2017 and has been through multiple iterations. However it was towards the end of 2019 that we really changed gears and growth accelerated in a flywheel effect as soon as the pandemic hit the globe. The pandemic had the effect of a giant pause button on the industry which gave us the space to shape our platform, build a multicultural team, spin-off a technology company with one of the largest cadre of developers on the island and start charting the path towards our international aspirations. The bottom line was that of thinking out of the box, keep eyes on the ball and act with agility.

LDM: My development team has grown from an in-house cosy group of four people to a more than 50-strong talented team serving as the foundation, engine and R&D for our own technology platform. What each one of us at eCabs Technologies learns is that working here brings a massive advantage for technologists to test their skills against the world’s best, whilst learning, developing themselves, and growing into leadership positions as the company matures.

“A huge competitive advantage”

MB: An essential part of this success has also been the huge competitive advantage of having everything we need from an operational perspective within a 100-meter radius. Our headquarters practically resemble a giant laboratory with the ability to have on-field testing and instant feedback of results. We have also been blessed with the immeasurable benefit of direction from over a decade of operational knowledge and experience which facilitates development and improvements at speed, whilst competing with the world’s largest and most-funded players. Competing with the ilk of Bolt and now Uber has been a blessing with both companies backed by billions of Euros in funding, respectively. We’re playing in the champions’ league, which forces us to be the absolute best we can be and always aspire to be better and measure up against these technology giants.

What are the tangible results of your organisation’s development approach?

LDM: Our investments in Cuorium Technologies and eCabs have made us a considerable technology and software development business dedicated to mobility. We can stand out in the local market based on such a solid foundation.

MB: For the last two years we have been very busy reinventing our platform with our own IP and closing the gaps we needed to realise our ultimate vision. We brought the pre-pandemic consumer app experience up to the highest degree with multiple improvements in terms of usability, automation, system robustness and features, enabling our platform to be more competitive.

LDM: We also built the entire partner driver model from scratch and the extensive technology that is behind it. All these technologies are in a constant state of evolution and improvement. In this respect we have started our journey to take our technology to its next evolutionary chapter in machine learning, a project that allows our teams to leverage a multitude of our data points in the Google Cloud Learning Platform. This evolution gives us real-time, machine-enabled analysis and actions to scale quickly through big data driven decisions, as we integrate our proprietary technology with Google’s platform. The technology is in a constant state of evolution which will keep maturing and requiring best of breed talent who are eager to challenge themselves.

What are the challenges that you expect to face in the international markets?

MB: We are in a quickly evolving market of fierce competition fuelled by an ever-increasing demand for various mobility solutions as city-dwellers are more likely to leave their own cars behind, seeking alternatives to public transport for shorter and faster urban journeys.

LDM: When we made a tough decision to rebuild all our technology assets to establish our own intellectual property platform, we managed to create proprietary technology, supporting our great achievements in Malta as a unique multi-booking platform. Whilst the app market is set to grow from a current 40% to 46% by 2025 in the EU, the market is still dominated by traditional ride hailing booking means, and our platform uniquely offers the best of both worlds. We expect to leverage the capabilities and power of our one-of-a-kind platform and transpose it in other jurisdictions.

MB: We are also cognisant of the challenge that international markets hold for us, despite being firm believers in our platform, technology, and people. Global market penetration is always difficult for Maltese companies as our local market is small and isolated. Yet, we see our success in the local market, which is saturated by mobility solutions from international tech giants, as a testament to our international competitiveness on equal footing. We know that our IP is driving us to differentiate ourselves in international markets with positive feedback from foreign investors, whose due diligence has identified the eCabs platform as unique and at par with the best-in-class.

What can support you in being successful internationally?

LDM: As we are growing into one of the largest software firms in Malta exclusively dedicated to the development of our mobility innovations and technology solutions, we also keep onboarding further highly skilled professional talent to support the expansion of our expertise in, but not limited to, machine learning, data science, cloud-computing, cloud-based architecture, edge-environment management, internet of things application integration and mapping services.

MB: Our ambitious journey off the shores of Malta will be supported by our dedicated multicultural teams. They are committed to developing flagship technology and innovative solutions, making it available across cities globally as we expand. Of course, the perennial challenge to raise finance for technology products remains an uphill struggle which however we are confident will be overcome with the priceless support of the financing institutions. 2023 will make the start of this new chapter a reality for the Company, our employees and our country.

In the press:

Business Today

eCabs Google Noovle

eCabs partners with Noovle on machine learning project

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eCabs has partnered with Noovle Malta Ltd, the international branch of Noovle S.p.A, part of TIM group and their main partner Google Cloud, to carry out a machine learning project. This serves as the next chapter in the evolution of the state-of-the-art mobility company’s platform. The project supports eCabs in moving onto its new generation of software. It also lays the foundations of AI through cutting-edge machine learning solutions to power the company’s soon to be international platform.

Working with Noovle and Google Cloud experts

In the project’s framework, eCabs team members work hand in hand with Noovle and Google Cloud experts. This allows the Malta-based tech company to leverage the multitude of its data points through the Learning Platform to empower real-time, machine-enabled analysis and real time actions. Consequently, this will thus allow the eCabs platform to make faster, more efficient, and more effective decisions based on market supply and demand.

The project objectives seek firstly to elevate eCabs’ technology to the intended next level in support of the company’s internationalisation plans by allowing instant, consistent and scalable improvement to its proprietary platform. The technology will accordingly enhance the optimised user experience for drivers and passengers by learning from automated decisions rooted in big data processing.

eCabs Google

The future of self-learning software

Luca di Michele, Chief Technology Officer at eCabs, said, “It is to our delight that we are collaborating with such expertise on the global market leading in machine learning platform, on such an important project that sees us move into our next generation of software development.”

As the next step in this project, eCabs is planning to use its data to create the future of self-learning software in their vertical, which shall be able to scale quickly based on big-data-driven decisions made by the machine learning process. Additionally, via this ambitious undertaking, the technical teams of eCabs are exposed to a great learning curve as they work with the best of the best professionals in the field.

eCabs Google

CTO di Michele added: “This is only the beginning. By improving our supply and demand analysis, we will be able to positively impact all other software components of our platform, such as estimated time of arrival and map mechanics to mention but a few examples. This is an important evolution of every aspect of the eCabs platform, which eventually boosts the data-driven aspect of our business by using automation.”

This machine learning collaboration comes after eCabs has recently successfully migrated to the Google Cloud Platform.

In the press:

Times of Malta | Who’s Who | The Malta Business Weekly| josannecassar.com

Roberta Metsola European Parliament eCabs Matthew Bezzina

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola visits eCabs offices

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On Monday 29th August, eCabs welcomed the European Parliament President Robert Metsola.

During her stay, the President went around the offices to meet members of staff, with a particular focus on technology, and discussed the future of the mobility industry in the EU with the organisation’s heads.

“It was a pleasure to share our ambitious vision and our internationalisation programme which is set to start in 2023 with President Metsola. We held meaningful discussions on our ESG agenda, the opportunities and the goals of our company, as well as technology and the future of the mobility industry within the European Union. It was also lovely to see how warmly our team greeted her and how well she interacted with them”, said Matthew Bezzina, eCabs Technologies CEO.

Roberta Metsola European Parliament eCabs Matthew Bezzina
Roberta Metsola European Parliament eCabs Matthew Bezzina

On her part, the European Parliament President wished eCabs success and further emphasised the importance of solid values in today’s business strategy.

“Sustainability, innovation, green. Three characteristics which, in today’s world, should be the basis of any policy or project enacted by both public and private enterprises. Qualities that the Maltese company eCabs has embraced over the past years. This morning we spoke with team members at eCabs about how the European Union can do more for businesses, enterprises, and companies in Malta and across Europe”.

As Malta’s largest ride-hailing firm, eCabs remains committed to leading the industry with innovative technology solutions guided by ESG principles.

Key actions include drastically reducing the business’s carbon footprint whilst cultivating a multicultural team of technologists to fuel growth on an international scale.

In the press:

Malta CEOs

eCabs Circle

eCabs Circle celebrates 70,000 members

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eCabs Circle, the unique, app-based reward programme, launched in late 2020 by Maltese ride-hailing platform eCabs, now has 70,000 members and is growing at an increasing rate. The programme, which is open to all eCabs customers, converts the amount spent on fares into points in ever-increasing amounts. They are then converted into free rides. Through eCabs Circle, customers are now enjoying over 1,000 free rides per week.

Describing the reasons behind the launch of eCabs Circle, the company’s Chief Marketing Officer Simon Debono said, “In a commoditised and highly competitive global mobility market, we needed to increase brand stickiness.  So, we designed a system to enhance customer loyalty through a tiered system that promotes usage and rewards to our highest-value customers based on the quantity of rides and actual spend. Developing this programme is also an important learning curve for our international ambitions, to facilitate market penetration strategies.”

“While, so far, our most loyal eCabs Circle members have been able to enjoy up to one in every seven rides for free, the success of this project is encouraging us to further develop the product and deliver additional benefits. For example, points could be converted into value for other modes of transport. This would promote the concept of multimodality which is much needed in Malta and many other cities around the world,” continued Debono.

The eCabs Circle app

The eCabs Circle platform is accessible through the eCabs App, giving each user full view of their status in points and rides. eCabs created the platform, while Yegertek – a Dubai-based company specialising in customer engagement and loyalty tech solutions – developed it. Yegertek’s Engage365-A Microsoft CRM based loyalty solutions have empowered several customer-facing enterprises like eCabs to maximise the efficacy of their engagement strategies.

Sajid Azmi, Founder and CEO of Yegertek, said, “The pandemic certainly accelerated the digitisation of customer engagement and loyalty. Companies like eCabs who understood this and acted now have a definite competitive advantage. Success demands that your strategies are agile, efficient and, most importantly, people centric. These will remain our focus as we continue to support eCabs in growing their business internationally.”

Kerstin Rizzo, eCabs Chief Programmes Officer added, “Since eCabs already runs on Microsoft Dynamics 365, we approached several Microsoft partners who specialise in reward schemes. We ultimately selected Yegertek as they met our extensive requirements, integrated well with our technology team, and displayed the willingness to further develop the product based on our design.” 

In the press:

The Malta Independent | The Malta Business Weekly

Cuorium Technologies Matthew Bezzina

eCabs’ tech arm Cuorium Technologies eyes international expansion

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Former eCabs Chief Executive Officer Matthew Bezzina recently took over the leadership role at Cuorium Technologies.

Malta’s ride-hailing company eCabs has shown impressive growth lately and, propelled by this success, its founders are looking to expand into new international markets. Most still think of eCabs as a transportation operator but in reality, at its core, we discover that behind the popular brand we see daily on our streets there is a technology and innovation powerhouse called Cuorium Technologies.

This business is poised to take its products into the mainstream of one of the most competitive and fast-paced sectors in the world: mobility. To chart this path, the company recently announced that former eCabs Chief Executive Officer Matthew Bezzina has now taken the leadership role at Cuorium Technologies – with a very clear vision of where this will take their business and the Maltese tech scene.

The Malta Business Weekly sat down with Bezzina to talk about the growth potential of Cuorium Technologies, what the challenges and opportunities are, and how the future of mobility is shaping up.

How would you describe the eCabs journey so far?

When we started the business over a decade ago, at the centre of our most rudimentary thoughts was how we could harness the emerging technologies to overhaul an archaic sector which thrived on the typical closed-shop culture that stifles innovation, competition and improved service delivery. Many – up to this very day – think of us as a transportation company but in effect we are an innovation-driven business which was capable of adapting technology to bring about a transformation in the mobility sector in Malta.

This has been a fascinating journey for us, particularly when you consider the uphill struggle any tech start-up faces in this country and this is why I look back with a sense of satisfaction and pride witnessing the way the business has grown over the years despite many challenges.

The major game-changer in our trajectory came about when we took a very tough decision and opted to re-build all our technology assets internally in order for us to own the intellectual property of all our platform, which would enable us to leverage what we achieved in Malta and transpose it in other jurisdictions.

Cuorium Technologies

After a huge investment and many man years of effort by all our fantastic tech team at Cuorium, we are now thrilled to see Cuorium Technologies embark on this exciting, new journey as we head for the internationalisation of our e-hailing platform.

What awaits you in the global mobility markets?  

We have no delusions of grandeur. We are grounded in reality. And whilst being firm believers in our product we are cognisant of the daunting challenge ahead of us. Our market intel clearly points at at a rapidly evolving market in practically all the continents, with ever-changing mobility trends and needs dramatically changing the world over.

Whilst international market penetration is always a tough proposition for a Maltese company we are striving to differentiate ourselves by leveraging our own IP and provide an e-hailing platform that delivers convenience, trust, and speed to both the driver and the passenger at the most affordable rates internationally. Our success in Malta is a living testament that our platform not only works but can also compete on equal footing with the mobility tech giants, something that makes us extremely proud of what we achieved and the space we’re in at the moment.

What are your expectations of the global mobility market?

As mobility is evolving, people are increasingly more likely to abandon their cars for running short-distance, urban errands. In this context, we expect the demand for services such as our platform to increase significantly across all demographics.

Forecasts see the European ride-hailing market reaching a value of over €51 billion in 2025. More than 160 million European residents will have used ride-hailing mobile applications by then. According to a Deloitte study in 2020, customers increasingly favour ride-hailing apps over traditional taxi services. It is important to note, that while the figure of 160 million passengers may seem high, it is only 20% of the entire population of the European Union. So, yes there is definitely potential for further market growth and expansion.

Today a small number of giant operators with rigid and complex model have captured the global market. These models are not nimble and flexible enough to enable existing fleet operators to participate in the e-hailing market through a seamless transitionary process, without making any capital outlay. Our model is squarely based on achieving a strong dose of fairness for:

  • the passenger (offering convenience, exceptional functionality and highly affordable rides).
  • the operator (delivering a fair return for the local champion of the service).
  • and most importantly the driver (ensuring he/she gets the lion’s share of the revenue generated).

What is your take on the Maltese start-up scene?

As much as I would love to say that there is a start-up ecosystem, I have to be frank and say that it does not really exist. We learned this the hard way. Incentives are negligible and procedurally cumbersome. Funding at the beginning of the project was non-existent, and as young entrepreneurs we never really managed to break the glass ceiling of the ‘established business community’.

Having said that we have recently witnessed a sea-change in attitude with the advent of the Malta Development Bank which is moving in the right direction to support viable and bankable businesses with the potential and commitment to make their venture happen. Hopefully other institutions follow in their footsteps so that we gradually start to create the much needed start-up ecosystem in Malta.

What are your strategic plans for supporting your internationalisation?

We have massive developments in the pipeline, which in turn will create further demand for the growth of our in-house technology team. By the end of the year we estimate to be one of the largest software firms in Malta fully dedicated to the development of our mobility technology assets. We will be onboarding more talent on our team as we increase our expertise in areas such as (but not limited to) machine learning, data science, cloud-computing and cloud-based architecture, edge-environment management, IoT application integration and mapping services.

I am also a firm believer that the success of our company’s internationalisation lies in the dedication and strong sense of belonging of our multi-cultural team. Apart from being an exceptional experience for all of us, the multi-culturalism of our team will be also commercially essential as we venture into foreign markets of diverse cultures. Our team, our leaders, my fellow founders and I are now on the starting blocks of a global race to penetrate as much markets as possible through our scalable platform. As we embark on this journey, we remain committed to fly our technology and innovation flag as high as we can across all the cities we shall be penetrating. The real journey starts now.

In the press:

The Malta Business Weekly 

eCabs Chief Technology Officer Luca de Michele

eCabs appoint Chief Technology Officer

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Technology arm poised for steady growth with appointment of Luca Di Michele as Chief Technology Officer.

Luca Di Michele has taken over the stewardship of eCabs’ technology team as Chief Technology Officer. He will be leading a growing multi-cultural team of software engineers from 13 nationalities. The team is building and shaping eCabs’ mobility technology platforms together with a growing extended team composed of QA specialists, product specialists, business analysts, and data analysts.

This appointment follows the company’s recent announcement of its corporate restructuring exercise. This saw the appointment of Andrew Bezzina as the new CEO for eCabs’ local operations. Matthew Bezzina is now leader for global operations and CEO for Cuorium Technologies, eCabs’ Technology arm.

Luca Di Michele joined eCabs in June of 2018 as a Senior Developer, moving on to Head of Development in September of 2019. In this role, he headed the team of developers at the newly set up Cuorium Technologies.

“Exciting times ahead of us” – eCabs Chief Technology Officer

“The company has been going through interesting phases of renewal and transformation over the past few years. I feel privileged to have been an integral part in shaping this transformation. We have built an awesome team of professionals here whom I am proud to have as colleagues. They are all driven by the same passion to see their creations come to life. And being given the liberty to explore and lead new technologies . We have exciting times ahead of us,” says Luca Di Michele, eCabs Chief Technology Officer.

eCabs Chief Technology Officer

Matthew Bezzina laid praise to eCabs’ new Chief Technology Officer saying, “Luca fully deserves this position. He has been given the space to grow. He has shown incredible ownership and leadership in building the technology that drives our platform with his team. Luca shares the same love and passion towards the brand as we do, and today knows this business inside out. We are fully confident that together with his growing team, we will keep our technology on its steady path, making an international success of it in the exciting years that lay ahead of us”.

In the press:

Times of Malta | Business Today | Who’s Who