Ankiti Bose Fired By Zilingo After Audit: 10 Things To Know

Zilingo, a Singapore-based start-up and a unicorn company has been in news for the past few months with its Chief Executive Officer and Indian-origin founder Ankiti Bose. The company has now fired Bose after suspending her. The action was taken after an audit allegedly showed financial irregularities, as per reports.

Bose was earlier suspended from the company on March 31 on allegations of discrepancies in the accounts. In a statement, Zilingo said, "Following an investigation led by an independent forensics firm that was commissioned to look into complaints of serious financial irregularities, the company has decided to terminate Ankiti Bose's employment with cause, and reserves the right to pursue appropriate legal action."

Ankiti Bose in her statement wrote, "I have neither seen the reports and not been given sufficient time to produce any documents requested by them. I have also been receiving a constant barrage of online threats to my life and family. Any report that comes out post my termination would be vitiated as it seems to be instructed by conflicted parties and we will pursue our rights against this witch-hunt to the full extent of the law."

She added, "I will be speaking on record shortly with more detail about the conflicts of interest in the manner this process was run and other matters which are being used to defame me including the timeline of events, harassment claims, etc."

Ankiti Bose Fired: Here are 10 things to know

• The company is yet to give details on why Ankiti Bose was fired and what were the allegations against her. The exact findings of the audit have also not been revealed.
• The probe into the complaints of financial irregularities was done by an independent firm hired by Zilingo. Ankiti Bose has locked horns with the Zilingo board members and major investor Sequoia Capital India.
• She has also denied all the allegations against her. In a statement given to Bloomberg, the former CEO claimed that she was fired because of "insubordination". 
• Ankiti Bose had earlier proposed to pay back the debt of about 40 million dollars.
• The company started by Ankiti Bose and her another co-founder Dhruv Kapoor works with apparel factories and merchants of South Asia and Southeast Asia.
• The firm connects them to the retailers all over the world. As per the latest reports, the company is valued at almost one billion dollars after its last funding in 2019.

Suggested Reading: Who Is Ankiti bose? Singapore Tech Company Suspends CEO Amid Financial Investigation

• Bose and Kapoor had started the firm in 2015 as Southeast Asia focused e-commerce company and then they expanded it into a global market.
• As a middle management firm, it provides logistics, financing and other services to apparel factories and merchants. The debt holders of the firm have decided to recall their loan entirely.
• This will need the company to hire a financial adviser who will make a viable step based on the options left with the firm.
• The company in its statement to Reuters said, "Due to Zilingo's failure to fulfill prior obligations under the loan agreement, the company's lenders have made the decision to accelerate the repayment of the entire loan."