 "VC firm Burda Investments may sue ex-Zilingo CEO Ankiti Bose: Details here")
Burda Principal Investments (BPI) plans to sue Ankiti Bose, former CEO and co-founder of Zilingo, Financial Express has reported. Recent revelations about Ankiti Bose exposed serious financial inconsistencies. BPI released a statement on Wednesday, April 27 and accused Ankiti of "significant irregularities in reporting to investors." BPI blamed these inconsistencies for Zilingo's failure.
Burda has clarified that it is the second investor to have decided to take action against former CEO and co-founder Ankiti Bose. Its statement said that it was a joint decision of all investors and not led by a single investor, as claimed by her.
What is Zilingo?
Zilingo is a technology and commerce platform with its headquarters in Singapore. The company was established by Ankiti Bose and Dhruv Kapoor in 2015. Ankiti Bose was only 23 years old when she started Zilingo.
It has business operations in Indonesia, Hong Kong, Thailand, the Philippines, Australia, and the United States. It aimed to support small merchants and businesses across South and Southeast Asia to sell their goods online.
Zilingo raised $226 million in 2019, a Moneycontrol report said. Its investors included Sequoia and Temasek, and Bose was considered a visionary.
More From This Section
The controversy
Zilingo was trying to raise $150 million to $200 million with the help of Goldman Sachs. At this point, investors questioned its finances as part of the due diligence process. Bloomberg reported that the talks could have boosted Zilingo's valuation to more than $1 billion.
The concerns are about the way Zilingo has operated since 2019. According to Zilingo's auditors, the company had not filed annual financial statements since 2019.
Earlier, a report published by Inc42 said that Ankiti had given herself a 1000 per cent salary hike without taking the company board into confidence.
As part of the investigation into the discrepancies in accounts and mismanagement, an investigation was instituted by Kroll, and Ankiti was asked questions about the irregularities at the firm. At present, she stands suspended until May 5.