Zilingo's ex-CEO Ankiti Bose files $100M defamation suit: Here's why
The tale of Singapore-based fashion start-up Zilingo and its India-born co-founder Ankiti Bose is one of caution. From being valued at $1 billion to liquidation, the start-up's fall was swift. Bose was allegedly at the center of everything that went wrong with the start-up. Now, she has filed a $100 million defamation suit against angel investor Mahesh Murthy. Let's see what led to this.
Why does this story matter?
Zilingo's meltdown had rattled the tech industry in Southeast Asia. Allegations of financial irregularities and mismanagement, souring relationships, a social smear campaign, and finally, liquidation—it had everything. Bose, who was once a hotshot in the start-up world, was fired from the company in May 2022 over the way she ran the business. She called her termination "an unfair witch hunt."
Murthy allegedly said Bose took money from Sequoia
Bose's suit against Murthy, a co-founder of Seedfund, is related to an article that appeared in the March issue of the Outlook Business magazine. In the article, Murthy talked about start-up founders who illegally took money from their companies. He referred to "one lady" who "ran a popular fashion portal and took Sequoia's money." Bose alleges Murthy was referring to her.
Article accused 'lady' of making dubious payments
According to Murthy, the said "lady" got her firm to pay Rs. 70 crore to her lawyer and Rs. 10 crore to a PR agency. All while the start-up failed to earn Rs. 10 crore gross income, he added. He did not mention Bose's name in the article. However, allegations of malpractice against Bose are well-known.
Inexplicable payments worth over $10 million allegedly made
Interestingly, Bose's suit comes after an Inc42 report about financial irregularities at Zilingo and her role in them. Per the report, whistleblowers revealed a series of payments worth over $10 million approved by Bose to various companies. These payments did not have any explanation or connection to Zilingo's operations. Chief among them is over $9 million (around Rs. 70 crore) paid to Algo Legal.
Bose's salary increased by 10 times
Bose also allegedly tried to bump the revenue of the company with the help of some creative accounting, the report said. Another interesting allegation is how Bose gave herself, another co-founder Dhruv Kapoor, and COO Aadi Vaidya a salary bump. Her salary reportedly grew 10x between 2017 and 2019. Meanwhile, Kapoor and Vaidya's salaries allegedly saw an increase of 3x and 7x, respectively.
