Zilingo's shareholders await board's decision as meeting ends inconclusive

Ankiti Bose (Image: @ankitibose/Instagram)

Singapore-based business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce startup Zilingo's shareholders are in a wait-and-watch mode after the company's board meeting ended inconclusively on June 20.

The embattled startup's Board of Directors, including its co-founder and chief technology officer, Dhruv Kapoor, met earlier in the day to decide on Zilingo's fate. The Board discussed various options, including liquidation as suggested by Deloitte LLP, and a last-minute management buyout offer by the two founders--Kapoor and Ankiti Bose.

According to sources aware of the matter, the Board did not conduct any voting today on any of the proposals, and the directors said that the Board will meet again after considering the management buyout offer and liquidation of the company.

A query sent to Deloitte and Kapoor remained unanswered, while Zilingo declined to comment.

Late in the evening on June 19, Kapoor proposed a management buyout of Zilingo, just a day before the company's Board was scheduled to meet, Moneycontrol had reported. Bose endorsed Kapoor's offer and the two founders claimed to have gotten financial commitments from a new group of investors.

According to the offer, the new investor will be infusing $8 million in equity in tranches and Zilingo will be transferred to the ownership of a newly incorporated entity, under Singapore's insolvency law.

"Given the potential of the business and the value you know this company can achieve, I urge you to consider the management buyout offer as a preferred alternative to voluntary liquidation," Kapoor had told the Board of Directors of Zilingo, in a mail.

"I make this offer on the basis of firm investor commitments and having appointed legal and financial advisers in respect of the management buyout offer," Kapoor added.

The management buyout offer came a month after Zilingo's Board had sacked its co-founder and chief executive, Ankiti Bose, in the wake of her suspension on March 31, related to alleged financial irregularities.

The Singapore-based company, which counts Sequoia Capital as its largest shareholder, has been in the midst of corporate governance issues since the start of 2022.

The company was eyeing a $150-$200 million fundraise at a unicorn valuation in February but rather has been struggling with financial irregularities and alleged sexual harassment claims, leading to the ouster of Bose.

Zilingo reached out to Moneycontrol after the publication of this story and claimed that the sexual harassment-related claims by Bose had been resolved in May.