Zilingo faces enforcement action for failing to file annual returns with ACRA for two years
SINGAPORE — Singapore-based fashion technology start-up Zilingo has faced enforcement action from the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) for not filing its annual returns for two years (2020 and 2021).
While ACRA did not specify the exact actions taken against the now-liquidated company, it said enforcement actions could include sending reminders, imposing composition sums, or striking the company off the register.
A spokesperson from ACRA said on Thursday (16 Feb) that 77 per cent of companies filed their annual returns on time for the financial year ending in March 2022.
In Singapore, it is mandatory for all incorporated companies to file annual returns with ACRA to ensure that their information is up-to-date in the authority’s register.
Some companies are also required to file their financial statements as part of their annual returns filing.
Zilingo has entered liquidation recently. It is reported that Zilingo’s creditors Varde Partners and Indies Capital Partners found a buyer for some of its assets, and they have already been transferred to the new owner for an undisclosed purchase price.
In 2019, Zilingo raised US$226M in its Series D financing from Sequoia Capital, Temasek Holdings, Burda Principal Investments, Sofina, Singapore investment fund EDBI and existing investors, bringing the total funds raised by the company to US$308M.
Temasek, one of Zilingo’s 23 investors, held an 8.3 per cent stake in the company as of 21 June last year.
ACRA stated that various resources are available to help company directors understand their responsibilities under the Companies Act, including training programmes and guides on preparing financial statements.
ACRA also collaborates with partners like the Singapore Institute of Directors to conduct outreach programmes on good financial reporting practices. It advised companies to invest in training and upskill their finance teams to ensure high-quality financial reporting.
SMS Chee Hong Tat said EDBI and Temasek do engage with investee companies to monitor performance
Last Tuesday (7 Feb 2023), Non-constituency Member of Parliament Leong Mun Wai asked the government with regard to the financial losses suffered by EDBI and Temasek in therecent liquidation of Zilingo.
Mr Chee Hong Tat, the Senior Minister of State for Finance, replied to Mr Leong, acknowledging that both EDBI and Temasek did invest in Zilingo, with EDBI in 2018 and Temasek in 2020.
“These investment decisions were made independently by the two entities,” Mr Chee said.
“EDBI and Temasek typically do not comment on their investments in specific companies, or the performance of these individual investments. The Government’s approach is to review the overall performance of EDBI’s and Temasek’s portfolios, rather than the performance of specific investments, to ensure that they are meeting their respective investment mandates.”
In other words, the government would not be commenting on the financial losses suffered by EDBI and Temasek in Zilingo, side-stepping Mr Leong’s questions.
However, Mr Chee said that EDBI and Temasek do recognise the inherent risks of investing in startups and do take steps to mitigate these risks.
“Serious financial irregularities”
Last April, news broke that Zilingo’s CEO Ankiti Bose was fired over irregularities found in her company’s accounting.
“Following an investigation led by an independent forensics firm that was commissioned to look into complaints of serious financial irregularities, the company has decided to terminate Ms Ankiti Bose’s employment with cause, and reserves the right to pursue appropriate legal action,” the company issued a public statement last May.
During fundraising last year, investors began questioning its finances as part of the due diligence process.
It led to Temasek and Sequoia Capital starting an internal investigation into the financial practices of the company. It was found that, in fact, the company had not filed any annual financial returns since 2019.
Investigators also questioned the way Zilingo had accounted for transactions and revenue. When the fracas started, Temasek recalled one of its staff who was sitting on the board of Zilingo.
In addition to questions about Zilingo’s accounting practices, it was found that payments to several service providers of more than US$7 million were quietly signed by Ms Bose without the knowledge of other senior executives. The payments were said to have gone to about five IT and consulting firms.
And according to insiders, it wasn’t clear what services they delivered. The investigators did not identify whether there were links between the Zilingo payments and the CEO. Such a task would require access to bank accounts, which was beyond the scope of the forensic investigation led by the internally appointed investigating team.
Ploughing money into a company despite it failing to file its annual returns for 2 whole fucking years? That's some fucking fine due diligence conducted I must say on the part of Temasek.
Temasek-backed Zilingo, which fired CEO Ankiti Bose, to be liquidated: Sources
SINGAPORE – Singapore’s Zilingo is set to enter liquidation, cappingamonths-long crisis that shocked Asia’s technology and start-up industries.
The fashion tech company’s board appointed EY Corporate Services as provisional liquidator, sources familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named as the matter is private.
The board informed major shareholders and creditors of its decision, they said. The board declined to comment for this story.
The liquidation process spells an end to a start-up whose implosion and months-long battle for survival sent shock waves through South-east Asia and India’s tech industries.
As the clash between Ms Bose and the board escalated, she hired an attorney to fight back against what she described as a “witch-hunt”.
Ms Bose argued that she was getting blamed for decisions and practices that were well known by senior managers and directors.
The liquidation comes after Zilingo creditors Varde Partners and Indies Capital Partners found a buyer for some of its assets, the sources said.
Those assets have been transferred to the new owner for an undisclosed purchase price, they said.
Zilingo had been one of the highest-profile start-ups to emerge from Singapore.
Singapore’s investment firm Temasek expressed concern that the meltdown was tainting its reputation and urged the company to fix the situation.
Other prominent investors included Sequoia Capital India, the regional arm of the Silicon Valley company that backed Apple and Google.
At the heart of the company’s breakdown was the soured relationship between Ms Bose, a celebrity CEO who criss-crossed the globe to speak at tech gatherings from Hong Kong to California, and her long-time supporter, Mr Shailendra Singh, head of Sequoia India.
Allies for years, they fell out as financial pressures mounted. Mr Singh lost faith in the management skills of the young founder he had championed, while Ms Bose believed he betrayed her by pushing her out of her own company.
Zilingo wasvalued at close to US$1 billion (S$1.3 billion) in a 2019 funding round, when Ms Bose was 27. But the Covid-19 pandemic took a toll on its business, and the company was forced to cut jobs as revenue dwindled.
Its chief financial officer Ramesh Bafna, a former chief financial officer of fashion e-commerce platform Myntra, left last May, a mere two months after joining the start-up, and chief operating officer Aadi Vaidya departed soon afterwards.
In June, the board started weighing options, including liquidation and a management buyout, Bloomberg News reported at the time. That included a presentation from its financial adviser Deloitte to sell off the company’s assets. Mr Dhruv Kapoor, who co-founded Zilingo with Ms Bose in 2015, made the pitch for a buyout.
Once operating in at least eight countries with hundreds of workers, Zilingo had most recently fewer than 100 staff in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh after a major downsizing amid the crisis.
Comedian Jinx Yeo roasts Temasek Holdings over failed investments in Zilingo and FTX:
Zilingo faces enforcement action for failing to file annual returns with ACRA for two years
SINGAPORE — Singapore-based fashion technology start-up Zilingo has faced enforcement action from the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) for not filing its annual returns for two years (2020 and 2021).
While ACRA did not specify the exact actions taken against the now-liquidated company, it said enforcement actions could include sending reminders, imposing composition sums, or striking the company off the register.
A spokesperson from ACRA said on Thursday (16 Feb) that 77 per cent of companies filed their annual returns on time for the financial year ending in March 2022.
In Singapore, it is mandatory for all incorporated companies to file annual returns with ACRA to ensure that their information is up-to-date in the authority’s register.
Some companies are also required to file their financial statements as part of their annual returns filing.
Zilingo has entered liquidation recently. It is reported that Zilingo’s creditors Varde Partners and Indies Capital Partners found a buyer for some of its assets, and they have already been transferred to the new owner for an undisclosed purchase price.
In 2019, Zilingo raised US$226M in its Series D financing from Sequoia Capital, Temasek Holdings, Burda Principal Investments, Sofina, Singapore investment fund EDBI and existing investors, bringing the total funds raised by the company to US$308M.
Temasek, one of Zilingo’s 23 investors, held an 8.3 per cent stake in the company as of 21 June last year.
ACRA stated that various resources are available to help company directors understand their responsibilities under the Companies Act, including training programmes and guides on preparing financial statements.
ACRA also collaborates with partners like the Singapore Institute of Directors to conduct outreach programmes on good financial reporting practices. It advised companies to invest in training and upskill their finance teams to ensure high-quality financial reporting.
SMS Chee Hong Tat said EDBI and Temasek do engage with investee companies to monitor performance
Last Tuesday (7 Feb 2023), Non-constituency Member of Parliament Leong Mun Wai asked the government with regard to the financial losses suffered by EDBI and Temasek in the recent liquidation of Zilingo.
Mr Chee Hong Tat, the Senior Minister of State for Finance, replied to Mr Leong, acknowledging that both EDBI and Temasek did invest in Zilingo, with EDBI in 2018 and Temasek in 2020.
“These investment decisions were made independently by the two entities,” Mr Chee said.
“EDBI and Temasek typically do not comment on their investments in specific companies, or the performance of these individual investments. The Government’s approach is to review the overall performance of EDBI’s and Temasek’s portfolios, rather than the performance of specific investments, to ensure that they are meeting their respective investment mandates.”
In other words, the government would not be commenting on the financial losses suffered by EDBI and Temasek in Zilingo, side-stepping Mr Leong’s questions.
However, Mr Chee said that EDBI and Temasek do recognise the inherent risks of investing in startups and do take steps to mitigate these risks.
“Serious financial irregularities”
Last April, news broke that Zilingo’s CEO Ankiti Bose was fired over irregularities found in her company’s accounting.
“Following an investigation led by an independent forensics firm that was commissioned to look into complaints of serious financial irregularities, the company has decided to terminate Ms Ankiti Bose’s employment with cause, and reserves the right to pursue appropriate legal action,” the company issued a public statement last May.
During fundraising last year, investors began questioning its finances as part of the due diligence process.
It led to Temasek and Sequoia Capital starting an internal investigation into the financial practices of the company. It was found that, in fact, the company had not filed any annual financial returns since 2019.
Investigators also questioned the way Zilingo had accounted for transactions and revenue. When the fracas started, Temasek recalled one of its staff who was sitting on the board of Zilingo.
In addition to questions about Zilingo’s accounting practices, it was found that payments to several service providers of more than US$7 million were quietly signed by Ms Bose without the knowledge of other senior executives. The payments were said to have gone to about five IT and consulting firms.
And according to insiders, it wasn’t clear what services they delivered. The investigators did not identify whether there were links between the Zilingo payments and the CEO. Such a task would require access to bank accounts, which was beyond the scope of the forensic investigation led by the internally appointed investigating team.
https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2023/02/17/zilingo-faces-enforcement-action-for-failing-to-file-annual-returns-with-acra-for-two-years/
Fyi, Zilingo hasn't filed its financial report since March 2019:
I wonder exactly how much was ploughed by Temasek into Zilingo.....
Modi approves of this epic CECA-ian implosion 100% ;)
Temasek-backed Zilingo, which fired CEO Ankiti Bose, to be liquidated: Sources
SINGAPORE – Singapore’s Zilingo is set to enter liquidation, capping a months-long crisis that shocked Asia’s technology and start-up industries.
The fashion tech company’s board appointed EY Corporate Services as provisional liquidator, sources familiar with the matter said, asking not to be named as the matter is private.
The board informed major shareholders and creditors of its decision, they said. The board declined to comment for this story.
The liquidation process spells an end to a start-up whose implosion and months-long battle for survival sent shock waves through South-east Asia and India’s tech industries.
The once high-flying company pitched into a downward spiral after complaints of financial irregularities, culminating in the dismissal of high-profile co-founder and chief executive officer Ankiti Bose in May 2022.
Ms Bose, 31, continued to deny any claims of wrongdoing throughout the crisis and argued she was being unfairly targeted.
As the clash between Ms Bose and the board escalated, she hired an attorney to fight back against what she described as a “witch-hunt”.
Ms Bose argued that she was getting blamed for decisions and practices that were well known by senior managers and directors.
The liquidation comes after Zilingo creditors Varde Partners and Indies Capital Partners found a buyer for some of its assets, the sources said.
Those assets have been transferred to the new owner for an undisclosed purchase price, they said.
Zilingo had been one of the highest-profile start-ups to emerge from Singapore.
Singapore’s investment firm Temasek expressed concern that the meltdown was tainting its reputation and urged the company to fix the situation.
Other prominent investors included Sequoia Capital India, the regional arm of the Silicon Valley company that backed Apple and Google.
At the heart of the company’s breakdown was the soured relationship between Ms Bose, a celebrity CEO who criss-crossed the globe to speak at tech gatherings from Hong Kong to California, and her long-time supporter, Mr Shailendra Singh, head of Sequoia India.
Allies for years, they fell out as financial pressures mounted. Mr Singh lost faith in the management skills of the young founder he had championed, while Ms Bose believed he betrayed her by pushing her out of her own company.
Zilingo was valued at close to US$1 billion (S$1.3 billion) in a 2019 funding round, when Ms Bose was 27. But the Covid-19 pandemic took a toll on its business, and the company was forced to cut jobs as revenue dwindled.
Its chief financial officer Ramesh Bafna, a former chief financial officer of fashion e-commerce platform Myntra, left last May, a mere two months after joining the start-up, and chief operating officer Aadi Vaidya departed soon afterwards.
In June, the board started weighing options, including liquidation and a management buyout, Bloomberg News reported at the time. That included a presentation from its financial adviser Deloitte to sell off the company’s assets. Mr Dhruv Kapoor, who co-founded Zilingo with Ms Bose in 2015, made the pitch for a buyout.
Once operating in at least eight countries with hundreds of workers, Zilingo had most recently fewer than 100 staff in India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh after a major downsizing amid the crisis.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-01-20/singapore-s-zilingo-to-liquidate-after-crisis-at-fashion-startup
Ho Ching says Temasick can afford to be contrarian, so lets just move on shall we?