# Avner Ziv

> Avner Ziv, also known as Abe Ziv, is the Israeli co-founder and CEO of Zota, formerly Zotapay. He studied Chinese at Yunnan Normal University and previously worked at SafeCharge, eToro, Betfred and MARKETS.com. His public work centers on simplifying merchant access to local payment methods, building shared operating systems and introducing AI agents into Zota’s service operations.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Zota
- **Organizations:** Zota, Mabsut Payments Group, SafeCharge, eToro, Betfred, MARKETS.com, Zota Payment Technologies AG
- **Nationality:** Israeli
- **Education:** Advanced Chinese language and cultural studies; degree not specified, Yunnan Normal University, Institute of Chinese and International Studies, Kunming
- **Known for:** Received an annual full Chinese Scholarship Council scholarship for advanced Chinese studies, according to his LinkedIn education record., Co-founded the payments business now known as Zota., Led Zota through the rollout of Agentforce customer support and spoke at Dreamforce 2025.

## Career timeline

- **2008-2009** — Undertook advanced Chinese studies at Yunnan Normal University with an annual full scholarship from the Chinese Scholarship Council.
- **Before 2017; exact dates unverified** — Worked at SafeCharge, eToro, Betfred and MARKETS.com.
- **2015** — Co-founded Mabsut Payments Group in late 2015; the business developed as Zotapay. Zota’s own operating history begins in 2016.
- **2017** — Discussed merchant onboarding, payment-provider diversification and Chinese market experience in a June interview as Zotapay CEO.
- **2019** — Led Zotapay when it announced its Deportivo Alavés sponsorship in January.
- **2020** — An August Swiss commercial-register notice listed him as president of the board of Zota Payment Technologies AG.
- **2023-2024** — Zotapay rebranded as Zota; its history dates the transformation to 2023, and a January 2024 article explains the new positioning.
- **2025** — Presented Zota’s AI and unified-data approach at Dreamforce; the company described plans for 50 AI agents.

## Achievements

- Received an annual full Chinese Scholarship Council scholarship for advanced Chinese studies, according to his LinkedIn education record.
- Co-founded the payments business now known as Zota.
- Led Zota through the rollout of Agentforce customer support and spoke at Dreamforce 2025.

## Latest updates

- **2025-10** — Zota reported Ziv’s Dreamforce 2025 appearance and described its proposed 50-agent roadmap.
- **2025-07** — Salesforce published a Zota case study describing AI-assisted merchant support, agent testing and Ziv’s involvement in employee training.
- **2025-03** — Salesforce Israel published an interview on Zota’s Agentforce rollout and Ziv’s aspirations for more autonomous financial operations.

## Links

- Website: https://zota.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abe-ziv-3b788a18/

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/avner-ziv
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-21