Zilingo cofounder Ankiti Bose said on Thursday that she has resigned from the company’s board, due to the ‘opacity of information’ shared with her by other shareholders.
“Given the current circumstances, and due to the opacity of information to me as board member and a shareholder, I have resigned forthwith from all directorships I hold with Zilingo’s holding company and any of its subsidiaries,” Bose said in a statement posted on her Instagram account.
Bose was fired by the Zilingo board on 20 May, following an investigation into alleged financial irregularities by Kroll. Bose has denied the charges in several media reports.
She has remained a board director in group’s holding company and its subsidiaries and owns around 8.5% stake in the company.
On Thursday, she said that despite being ‘a large shareholder’ of the company, “other material information pertaining to the company has also been concealed” from her.
Bose’s exit from the board comes at a time when the company shareholders are also trying to put together an investor consortium to avoid liquidation of Zilingo.
On 19 June, the company’s other co-founder Dhruv Kapoor tabled a proposal to infuse additional funds into the company and restructure debt, in a bid to avoid liquidation.
Kapoor’s proposal was a "preliminary and non-binding offer" to pay off the $48 million outstanding debt owed to Varde Partners and Indies Capital in a deferred manner, and infuse $8 million in fresh equity into the company, with the help of an investor group backing this deal. The offer was supported by cofounder Bose.
The matter to liquidate Zilingo was not put to vote last Monday as the company is evaluating other proposals too.
Troubles for the startup began after a whistleblower alerted the company’s investors about irregularities earlier this year, after which Bose was first suspended and then asked to leave by the board.
Before that, Zilingo was looking to raise between $150 million and $200 million with the help of Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
