Zilingo COO resigns, the latest in the troubled startup’s string of high-profiles departures

Zilingo’s Chief Operating Officer (COO) has recently resigned from the company, in the latest of high-profile departures in the crisis-stricken company.

Aadi Vaidya, who has served as Zilingo’s COO since 2017, confirmed his resignation when contacted by Bloomberg last Friday. While he said that Zilingo has given him great colleagues and friends, he also stated that it is “now time to move on, clear my head and reset priorities for the future”.

Vaidya’s resignation is the latest in a line of departures from Zilingo.

Many executives have left the startup

The startup first suspended its co-founder and CEO Ankiti Bose after auditors raised the alarm on the company’s accounting practices. Bose was later fired, though she has denied any wrongdoing and called the suspension a “witch hunt”.

Prior to this, Zilingo was one of Singapore’s highest profile startups, having raised US$226 million at a valuation of US$970 million in 2019.

The company provides e-commerce integrations for small fashion vendors across Southeast Asia, and counts Temasek Holdings and Sequoia Capital India, among others, as its investors.

Bose later resigned from all directorship positions in the company, including the holding company and all subsidiaries.

In a statement, Bose criticised the company’s handling of the crisis, including their failure to show her reports pertaining to her alleged misconduct, and accused the company of leaving employees and customers in a state of limbo.

The company also lost their Chief Financial Officer Ramesh Bafna in May, despite being a frontrunner to take over Bose’s position as Zilingo’s CEO.

Zilingo’s head of PR and communications Naushaba Salahuddin was also dismissed around the same time.

The company is currently being led by co-founder Dhruv Kapoor, the company’s Chief Technology Officer, who owns around eight per cent of the company. 

Kapoor has been trying to keep the company afloat, and in June, the board authorised US$40 million in a loan repayment to creditors.

Separately, Inc42 reported that Zilingo has not paid employees’ salaries since March. The company has also laid off its Philippines team.

Featured Image Credit: Ore Huiying | Bloomberg | Getty Image and Zilingo