Zilingo co-founder Ankiti Bose files $100-mn defamation suit against investor Mahesh Murthy: Reports

Ankiti Bose was fired by Zilingo in April 2022 after suspension as a result of several claims of improper behaviour made by unnamed insiders in the organisation.

Amid boardroom drama that brewed in Singapore-based fashion tech firm Zilingo for a long time, it’s co-founder Ankiti Bose has filed a fresh $100 million (roughly Rs 820 crore) defamation lawsuit against investor Mahesh Murthy for accusing her of taking money from a startup illegally, according to media reports on April 22.

Bose has accused Murthy of falsely casting aspersions on her in an article, "From Vulture Capital to Victim Capital : Mahesh Murthy’s Take on VCs in India," published in the Outlook Business magazine on March 1. According to business publication Mint, Bose claimed the article has caused damage to her “name, reputation and standing, and image". Moreover, along with the Rs 820 crore in damages, she has sought an apology from Murthy.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the reports.

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Murthy is the managing partner at early stage venture capital firm Seedfund which has backed the likes of redbus, Chumbak and others.

Moneycontrol had earlier reported that Bose was fired by Zilingo in April 2022  after suspension as a result of several claims of improper behaviour made by unnamed insiders in the organisation.

Moreover, according to Mint, Murthy didn't name Bose in the article but offered various descriptive pointers. Referring to founders who took money illegally out of their startups, it mentioned "one lady" who "ran a popular fashion portal and took Sequoia's money".

"She got her firm to pay her lawyer some Rs 70 crore as fees and-it is rumoured-got a lot of that amount directly back to herself as her cut," Murthy alleged.

Ankiti Bose, on the other hand, told Mint, "The fact is, there was no evidence presented to me; there was no report presented to me. There were just a lot of media statements and a lot of unnamed sources saying things, but nobody (else) saying anything directly on record."

Meanwhile, earlier this January, Bloomberg reported that Zilingo entered liquidation after company’s board appointed EY Corporate Services Pte as provisional liquidator. The board informed major shareholders and creditors of its decision, Bloomberg said citing sources.

Zilingo had been one of the highest-profile startups to emerge from Singapore. Other prominent investors included Sequoia Capital India, the regional arm of the Silicon Valley firm that backed Apple and Google.

At the heart of the company’s breakdown was the soured relationship between Bose, a celebrity CEO who crisscrossed the globe to speak at tech gatherings from Hong Kong to California, and her longtime supporter, Shailendra Singh, head of Sequoia India. Allies for years, they fell out as financial pressures mounted. Singh lost faith in the management skills of the young founder he had championed, while Bose believed Singh betrayed her by pushing her out of her own company.