Zilingo, a Singapore-based business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce startup, has suspended its chief executive officer, Ankiti Bose, due to discrepancies in the company's accounting during a due-diligence in a new funding round, Bloomberg reported.
Key Highlights
- It is reported that Zilingo has been trying to raise between US$150 million to US$200 million from investors with the help of Goldman Sachs Group.
- Zilingo’s investors, which include Temasek Holdings and Sequoia Capital India, have launched a probe into the startup's financial practices.
- The investigation centers on Zilingo, not filing annual financial statements since 2019, which accounts transactions and revenue across its platform with thousands of small merchants.
- However, Bose has denied allegations of malpractice and said her suspension was due to complaints she filed about harassment, according to two people familiar with the matter.
- According to Bloomberg, Temasek’s director of investment Xu Wei Yang and Burda Principal Investments’ managing director for Asia Albert Shyy, who were Zilingo directors have stepped down from the company’s board.
History of Zilingo
- The Singapore-based startup was founded in 2015 by Ankiti Bose and Dhruv Kapoor.
- Initially, Zilingo started as a mobile-first e-commerce marketplace and it has since evolved into a B2B technology platform.
- Zilingo has operations in Indonesia, Hong Kong, Philippines, Australia, India and the United States.
- To date, Zilingo has raised US$302 million in funding and notable investors include Temasek Holdings, Sequoia Capital India, EDBI and Burda Principal Investments.
- Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the startup had to lay off 12% of its global workforce and also close down offices in US and Australia in 2020.
