The Singapore Startup Zilingo Pte board discusses replacing the suspended Ankita Bose from her CEO post after investigations revealed financial misdemeanors.
Bose, whose suspension runs till May 5, has asked the board to clarify her status in the company because she feels the company is going directionless.
Appointing an interim CEO and more
As per Bloomberg News, the board considers appointing an interim CEO from among its investors and senior executives. Kroll, the private investigative firm conducting a probe into Zilingo’s accounting practices, aims to close the scrutiny soon.
Bose has denied any misconduct and has hired a lawyer to fight back against what she describes as a “witch hunt”. In a statement to Bloomberg, Boss said that she is committed to cooperating entirely with the board during the investigations.
Zilingo has not responded to requests for comments.
Zilingo Pte is backed by Temasek Holdings Pte and Sequoia Capital India. It was the most high-profile startup in Singapore until the revelations of an accounting malpractice probe and CEO suspension recently emerged. Temasek, which is Singapore government-backed, has expressed concern that its reputation will get tainted in this meltdown and asked the company to resolve it.
The questions by investors regarding its financial practices came up when Zilingo approached Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to raise $200 million. The company supplies technology to factories and merchants in the apparel industry. The concerns were how the startup accounted for its revenues from platforms used by thousands of merchants apart from the consolidation of Indonesia operations.
Bose was 27 years in 2019 when she raised $226 million at a valuation of $970 million for the startup. However, the Covid -19 pandemic affected the business, and revenue fell by a third to $40 million in 2021 fiscal. As a result, Bose took a 30% pay cut while the company laid off other staff.
The conflict between Bose and the directors escalated as responsibilities were fixed and responsible for the company’s financial state. Bose argued that she was blamed by directors and senior managers for decisions they were aware of. For example, she pointed out that investor Sequoia Capital Managing Director Shailendra Singh was deeply involved in Zilingo’s operations.
Bose said she and her co-founder Dhruv Kapoor were young and depended on Sequoia’s expertise. Singh participated in daily operations and communicated with Bose. He was also a part of the discussion with Goldman Sachs about bringing in new investors. Singh resigned from Zilingo’s board, and Sandeep Kheer from Sequoia India has joined as Director at Zilingo.
Bose, who had worked earlier with Sequoia before starting Zilingo, has fought an earlier attempt in January 2021 to replace her with Singh. She says people are using the accounting pretext to oust her through the some of the bookkeeping practices in startups are typically technical decisions that are considered judgment calls.
