Sequoia’s Shailendra Singh leaves Zilingo board amid accounting probe
- ByStartupStory | April 14, 2022
According to sources familiar with the matter, Sequoia Capital India’s Shailendra Singh has resigned away from the board of Zilingo Pte following queries about the high-profile Singapore startup’s accounting methods.
After the departures of Temasek Holdings Pte’s Xu Wei Yang and Burda Principal Investments Ltd.’s Albert Shyy, Singh, a managing director at the influential venture capital firm, resigned as a director about a week ago, according to the source, who asked not to be identified because the move hasn’t yet been made public. All three companies were early supporters of the fashion ecommerce platform that was once heralded as a symbol of Southeast Asia’s burgeoning digital economy. Sequoia and Zilingo, for their part, declined to comment. Sequoia still has the board seat and plans to appoint a replacement.
On Tuesday, Zilingo dismissed CEO Ankiti Bose and launched an investigation into the company’s financial operations. According to sources familiar with the situation, the company was aiming to raise $150 million to $200 million with the help of Goldman Sachs Group Inc. when investors began to question its finances as part of the due diligence process.
The concerns centered on Zilingo’s accounting for transactions and income across a platform that included thousands of small merchants. The company has not filed yearly financial statements since 2019, according to Singapore officials.
Bose has denied any misconduct and claims that her suspension was partly due to her concerns about harassment. She has hired an attorney, Abraham Vergis of Providence Law Asia, to represent her and has dubbed the probe a “witch hunt.” Bose and her lawyer, though, have declined to respond.
For one of Singapore’s most well-known businesses, the conflict reflects a remarkable turn of events. Zilingo was created seven years ago in Singapore by Bose and chief technology and product officer Dhruv Kapoor to enable small businesses in South and Southeast Asia to sell their products online. Its value soared to nearly $1 billion at one point, and Bose became a popular speaker on technology and Southeast Asia’s prospects.
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