Singapore startup Zilingo dismisses CEO after suspension

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Singapore — Singapore-based Jilling fired CEO Anquity Bose on Friday after independently investigating complaints about what fashion technology startups described as “serious economic irregularities.” Said.

Bose, 30, who is the face of Zilingo at industry forums and investor conferences, told Reuters that she had been unfairly dismissed.

“The Board has unfairly terminated me for’disobedience’today without giving me the opportunity to fully address the concerns raised,” she said in an email statement. rice field.

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Seven-year-old Zilingo put the company’s co-founder Bose in jeopardy after a board suspension in March with the support of key investors.

Worth nearly $ 1 billion in the final round of funding in 2019, Jiringo is backed by investors such as Sequoia Capital India and Singapore’s national investor Temasek.

The company said in an email statement that it had decided to “terminate employment for good reason and reserve the right to take appropriate legal action.”

Zilingo did not provide details of the investigation, but said an independent forensic company led the investigation.

A top consulting firm has also been appointed to investigate allegations of harassment that Bose has notified the board of directors after the suspension.

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Zilingo said the investigation concluded that the company had taken appropriate steps and followed due process to address these complaints. A recent online report said it “caused irreparable damage” to companies, boards, employees and investors.

Sequoia and Temasek did not immediately respond to email requests for comments sent outside normal business hours. They previously refused to comment on the case. Zilingo did not immediately respond to requests for further comment on the case.

Zilingo said last week that the debtor decided to recover the entire loan and appointed a financial adviser to evaluate the options.

Founded in 2015 by Bose and Chief Technology Officer Dhruv Kapoor, Zilingo has become a global supply chain enabler in the apparel industry. We work with thousands of apparel factories and merchants in South and Southeast Asia to connect with retailers around the world.

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In a statement to Reuters, Bose said he had informed the board in detail this week about the “amount of harassment and compulsion” he had received over the past few years.

“By the time I was allegedly dismissed, the findings of both Kroll and Deloitte had not yet been presented and my report was incomplete,” she wrote.

According to sources familiar with the situation, Kroll was used to investigate allegations of “financial injustice” and Deloitte was used to investigate allegations of “harassment” by Bose.

Kroll declined to comment. Deloitte did not immediately respond to requests for comment by email or phone. (Report by Anshuman Daga in Singapore and Jaiveer Singh Shekhawat from Shubham Kalia in Bangalore, edited by Edmund Blair)