Zilingo – a Singapore-based B2B fashion e-commerce and tech start-up – has suspended its Indian Co-founder and CEO Ankiti Bose after alleged irregularities in the company’s accounting.
The discrepancies were, reportedly, found early this year which were discovered during a due diligence process for a new funding round at the firm.
The company was, reportedly, seeking to raise US $ 150-200 million and had engaged Goldman Sachs to broker the deal.
However, in the process of due diligence, the auditors apparently found irregularities in the way that Zilingo was accounting for transactions and revenue across its e-commerce platform.
The company has not filed financial statements since 2019 – the year of its most recent funding round before the latest attempt – hence the effect of its accounting practices on its bottom line is not publicly known.
That was when several major investors, including Singapore-based Temasek Holdings and Sequoia Capital’s India arm, launched an investigation into the matter, according to a Bloomberg report.
Bose was informed about the concerns by the board that her suspension will run until 5 May. According to various media reports, Ankiti has disputed these allegations and contested her suspension, calling the company’s actions a ‘witch hunt’ that was triggered by harassment complaints she raised against an investor in the company.
