Zilingo bids adieu to the Philippines as fate remains in limbo

Sign up for the Daily Newsletter, sent exclusively to our Premium subscribers. We break down the big and messy topics of Asia’s tech and startup community. Get the newsletter in your inbox everyday with a Premium subscription.

Hello reader,

“Everyone in the team, in all countries, is just waiting for the final direction: Should we close or what?” a Zilingo Philippines senior executive told Tech in Asia last week on condition of anonymity.

It seems that fashion ecommerce startup hasn’t made a lot of progress since receiving an 11th-hour buyout proposal from its founders last month to stay afloat. However, matters have worsened for its employees in the Philippines, who did not receive their salaries for at least two months and have now been laid off.

A host of controversies this year has brought the once high-flying soonicorn to its knees. The company needed to balance its precarious cash position and pay lenders while dealing with not only the fallout from harassment complaints but also the ​​messy ouster of Ankiti Bose, its co-founder and former CEO, over allegations of accounting irregularities.

Zilingo’s sudden fall from grace sent shockwaves throughout startup ecosystems across Asia. Reportedly, Sequoia Capital, a major investor in the Singapore-based firm, briefly delayed the close of its US$2.8 billion India and Southeast Asia fund as a result.

With Zilingo’s fate hanging by a thread as the board contemplates a possible liquidation, Tech in Asia details the troubled startup’s decision to shut down its Philippine office and what it means for the unit, which once had up to 40 employees.

Today we look at:

• Zilingo closing its office and laying off the entire team in the Philippines
• Gojek-backed Bank Jago’s year of profitability
• Other newsy highlights such as a dick pic-powered app to detect STDs and the latest victims of the ongoing crypto mayhem

Premium summary

The beginning of the end?

Image credit: Timmy Loen

With pink slips piling up across Southeast Asia over increasing macroeconomic woes, these are tough times for countless startups within the region. However, Zilingo remains an exception as its troubles are largely self-inflicted.

Despite the dire situation, Shiela Mauricio, Zilingo’s country manager for the Philippines, ended an email to her now-dismantled team on an upbeat note, saying she believes that “if [one] door closes, others definitely will open.”

That kind of optimism is the reason why Tech in Asia unlocked its hiring tracker – we wanted to give affected workers and job seekers a holistic view of the current employment landscape. We also keep tabs on the increasing job cuts happening across Asia’s startup ecosystem.

Profits begin to stream in

Quick bytes