Zilingo

Zilingo had been one of the highest-profile startups to emerge from Singapore

The story of how globetrotting tech star Ankiti Bose built and lost one of Asia's most vaunted startups

Chief Executive Officer Ankiti Bose was dismissed in May after an investigation by an independent firm into complaints of financial irregularities

Bose was fired from the Singapore-based B2B e-commerce startup company on May 20 on grounds of financial irregularities

The move comes as Zilingo's board is scheduled to meet on Monday to discuss the future of the company, according to people with knowledge of the matter

Bose, a co-founder, lived the high life at company expense: When she wasn't showing up at Paris fashion week, she was shuttling off to New York for a meet-and-greet with a prospective client

She says that, in the end, the company fired her for a lack of cooperation in the investigation rather than for actual financial improprieties.

On March 31, Ankiti Bose was placed under suspension following complaints of alleged discrepancies in Zilingo's accounts.

The VC fund will undertake governance trainings for founders and senior management, implementation of whistleblower policies, more independent board representation

The board suspended its CEO and co-founder Ankiti Bose in March with the backing of major investors, pending a probe by an independent firm they hired.

Co-founder and former CEO Anktiti Bose had earlier alleged that she was suspended to suppress her harassment complaint

Fashion technology startup Zilingo said the decision to suspend its Indian-origin co-founder and CEO Ankiti Bose over alleged discrepancies in the company's accounts, was taken jointly by the board

The board has not yet decided who will replace Bose, though one option discussed is to appoint interim leadership, possibly including senior executives and investors, people familiar with matter said

This is the second investment firm that has spoken in the favour of strong governance framework days after Sequoia India, also an investor in Zilingo, spoke on the subject

Last week, Zilingo suspended its CEO Bose pending an investigation

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

The acquisition would help Zilingo scale up its global supply chain capabilities

Zilingo boasts over 1,300 sellers, a customer base of 150,000 and more than 500 orders a day