Singapore's Zilingo Suspends CEO Ankiti Bose Amid Investigation: Report

In early 2019, Zilingo raised $226 million from investors including Sequoia and Temasek, and pushed its valuation to $970 million.

Zilingo Pte, one of Singapore's highest-profile startups, has suspended Chief Executive Officer Ankiti Bose after an effort to raise new funding led to questions about the company's accounting, according to people familiar with the matter.

The company, which supplies technology to apparel merchants and factories, had been trying to raise $150 million to $200 million with help from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. when investors began to question its finances as part of the due diligence process, said the people, asking not to be identified because the information is confidential. The talks, which could have boosted Zilingo's valuation to more than $1 billion, stalled, they said.

The startup's investors, which include Temasek Holdings Pte and Sequoia Capital India, have started an investigation into the financial practices, the people said. Zilingo's auditor raised questions about its accounting, they said. The concerns center on the way that Zilingo, which regulators said had not filed annual financial statements since 2019, accounted for transactions and revenue across a platform spanning thousands of small merchants.

Ankiti Bose has disputed allegations of wrongdoing and contends her suspension was due in part to her complaints about harassment, according to two people close to the situation. She has hired an attorney to represent her, Abraham Vergis of Providence Law Asia, and has called the investigation a "witch hunt," according to correspondence reviewed by Bloomberg News.