Verb Ventures is delighted to welcome Katya Zotova as the newest member of the firm’s Advisory Board.
Katya Zotova is a seasoned corporate finance and strategy leader with almost three decades of experience at the intersection of investment banking, private equity, management consulting, and industry. Her career has spanned Europe, the US, the Middle East, and Asia — advising boards, executing complex M&A and capital markets transactions, and guiding companies through transformation and growth.
From shaping portfolio strategy at Shell and leading landmark energy transactions at Citigroup, to advising global CEOs and Boards at McKinsey & Company and heading EMEA Investment Banking Coverage at Mizuho International, Katya has consistently been at the forefront of strategy, corporate finance, and value creation. Today, she serves as a board director for a Lithium mining business in Canada, and advises Antler, the world’s largest early-stage VC platform, on energy, infrastructure and industrial investments.
Her global experience also includes serving on boards listed on FTSE100/250, AIM and TSX-V exchanges, where she has chaired audit and sustainability committees and helped companies navigate portfolio transformation, complex governance, and growth strategy.
“Katya’s expertise brings a unique vantage point on how early-stage companies evolve into scale-ups, pursue programmatic M&A, and ultimately become attractive to private equity or public markets. Her ability to connect strategy with execution at a truly global level is invaluable for my firm. She brings the perspective of both the boardroom and the deal room, and I’m excited to have her on board and work together to help our portfolio founders scale with confidence and ambition,” said Alexander Chikunov, Founding Partner of Verb Ventures.