Zilingo CEO slams decision to fire her

Zilingo co-founder and CEO Ankiti Bose said she will pursue her rights against the “witch hunt” shortly after her employment was terminated by the company.

Zilingo co-founder and CEO Ankiti Bose / Photo credit: Zilingo

Bose said Zilingo had appointed Kroll, an investigation and risk management firm, to probe into her harassment claims. However, she wasn’t given sufficient time to produce the documents requested by Kroll or consulting giant Deloitte, which was also involved in the probe.

“I have been suspended for the last 51 days on the basis of an anonymous whistleblower complaint, and today I am informed that my employment has been terminated inter alia on grounds of insubordination,” Bose said.

Bose, who co-founded the fashion B2B ecommerce startup in 2015, added that any report after her termination is “vitiated” as it is allegedly instructed by conflicting parties. Bose is expected to release more details regarding a conflict of interest in the investigation process soon.

See also: Zilingo’s layoffs expose internal fault lines

Previously, Bose was looking to pay off Zilingo’s entire US$40 million debt, which would allow her to gain more equity in the firm. She had reportedly already reached out to Varde Partners and Indies Capital with a term sheet to pay back Zilingo’s entire pending loans.

Varde and Indies had jointly provided the US$40 million loan to Zilingo when the startup was still under Bose’s leadership in 2021. The creditors have since recalled the loan, prompting the Singapore-headquartered platform to appoint a financial adviser.

The first notice of a default in payment came after Bose’s suspension following allegations of financial irregularities in the company’s bookkeeping, which was triggered by a questionable plan for a fundraising round.

Correction (May 21, 9:18 p.m. SGT): An earlier version of the article mentioned that Shailendra Singh of Sequoia India was the one that informed her of the termination. That is incorrect. We regret the error.