Explained: Did former Zilingo CEO Ankiti Bose hike her salary 10x without approval?

Building a start-up isn’t a cakewalk. It’s all about finding the right balance between valour and pride. For years, former Zilingo CEO Ankiti Bose demonstrated to the world that she could do it until she started to lean closer to arrogance and sank. After months of investigations, it is now learned that Bose was the root of all the company’s problems. Additionally, it is claimed that the co-founder of a Singapore fashion start-up also upped her salary ten times without the board’s consent and made “unexplained payments” to numerous vendors totalling millions of dollars. Let’s take a closer look. Also read: Who is Ajay Banga, the ex-Mastercard CEO nominated by Biden to lead World Bank? 10X salary hiked without approval Ankiti Bose, who was ousted as Zilingo CEO in May last year after allegations of serious financial irregularities, reportedly increased her salary 10 times without the board’s approval and provided “conflicting revenue figures” to shareholders. She also made $10 million (~Rs 82.04 crore) worth of “unexplained payments” to various vendors. Media and information startup Inc42 in its latest report highlighted additional information regarding the company’s disorganised financial reporting as well as worrying revelations regarding mysterious payments worth $10 million (~Rs 82.04 crore) and more. Sandeep Kapoor’s law business Algo Legal and associated companies received $9 million (~Rs 73.83 crore) of this, which was supposed to be used for “IT system development” and legal fees, but none of these services was ever really provided, the outlet stated quoting its source. A cash payment of $944,000 (~Rs 7.74 crore) to Ebix was made separately, and Bose approved it “even without an existing contract,” the report said. According to the outlet, Zilingo’s records included numerous other abnormalities and some creative accounting procedures that Bose had approved or implemented to increase the revenue reported in FY21 and FY22, notwithstanding the unexplained payments to vendors. It was also mentioned that some of these actions were conducted just a few days before her suspension the previous year. Also read: Worried AI will take away software coding jobs? Here’s what Google CEO Sundar Pichai has to say The defamation suit The Inc42 article was published a day after Bose sued prominent angel investor and co-founder of Seedfund Mahesh Murthy for defamation over his article in the 1 March issue of Outlook Business magazine, in which he made reference to founders who stole money from their start-ups. Murthy noted “one lady” who “ran a popular fashion portal and took Sequoia’s money” in his piece. Murthy stated, “She got her firm to pay her lawyer about Rs 70 crore as fees and-it is rumoured-got a lot of that amount directly back to herself as her cut,” without mentioning Bose by name. He tweeted on Saturday in reaction to the defamation charges, “Guilty conscience? Playing the victim? A PR stunt to stay in the news? A new way to raise funding? If you have a guess, do share it :)”

According to NDTV, the spokesperson for Bose has responded to the article by denying that the CEO’s pay increased 10X. The statement continued, “In fact, Bose was on a 30 per cent pay cut as earlier clarified and proper documentation exists with the company for this.” Also read: A drone expert explains the challenges startups will face with drone based deliveries Zilingo’s meltdown The Zilingo collapse shook the tech sector in Southeast Asia and elsewhere. The company was founded by an ex-Mckinsey and ex-Sequoia employee, Ankiti Bose, and IIT graduate, Dhruv Kapoor, in 2015.

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According to Bloomberg, the startup had secured more than $300 million (~Rs 24.61 billion) from some of the most well-known investors in the area, including Temasek Holdings Pte and Sequoia Capital India, the local division of the Silicon Valley company that had backed Apple Inc. and Google. Bose was a famous speaker who travelled the world, from California to Hong Kong, to address tech conferences. The outlet cited interviews with more than 60 people, including current and former employees, business owners, investors, and friends of the major figures, as saying that the firm suffered under Bose’s direction for many years. Employees who worked for Bose claim that her management approach alienated them and damaged the company. The business switched between different sales strategies, including a $1 million (~Rs 8.20 crore) promotional trip to Morocco, client loans, and a brief trip to the US. According to two former employees with firsthand knowledge of the situation, she at one time developed a fixation on “crazy growth” in an effort to attract Masayoshi Son, the powerful Japanese software entrepreneur. The company lost momentum as Bose sought to demonstrate growth at all costs. The firm even misrepresented its growth and misreported revenue to a number of shareholders and board members, which was eventually brought to the board’s knowledge by insiders, as per Inc24. A social media uproar resulted from Bose’s subsequent termination from the firm in March last year. While Bose has publicly argued that her removal was a witch hunt and that the basis for it was “insubordination,” it is now known that the board of directors’ notice of termination included more than seven justifications.

She made complaints of harassment against several employees of the company as well as claims of malpractices, misconduct, breach of fiduciary obligations, and malfeasance while investigations into alleged malpractices were ongoing. Bose hasn’t yet offered any concrete evidence to back up these claims, and in an interview with Inc42 through a representative, she vehemently denied knowing about any financial irregularities or mysterious payments to vendors. Additionally, the former CEO claimed that her termination was due to her refusal to cooperate with the investigation rather than any financial irregularities. When asked about these payments and other financial issues by Inc42, Bose placed the responsibility on other Zilingo executives, including cofounder Dhruv Kapoor. Because “unnamed sources” with biased narratives and incomplete facts have been given entirely too much weight without adequate proof, Bose has been accused of being weak because of her silence, according to a report. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.