In an internal memo to employees on Wednesday, Kapoor wrote, “You may have heard that there is an allegation made that certain individuals at Zilingo ‘suppressed’ complaints of harassment. We’ve always had a culture that does not tolerate sexual harassment, workplace harassment, bullying or intimidation… In rare cases when workplace issues were reported, we’ve always followed due process and taken strict action.”
Zilingo
suspended Bose on March 31 after alleged discrepancies were discovered in the company’s accounting during a due-diligence process for a new funding round, ET reported on April 12.
Bose, who worked with Sequoia Capital India before launching Zilingo, disputed these allegations and contested her suspension. She termed the company’s action a “witch hunt” and hinted that it was triggered by harassment complaints she had raised against an investor in the firm. Her suspension is valid until May 5.
Kapoor, who is also the chief technology and product officer at Zilingo, added in his note, “Unfortunately, over the last few days, there have been some things said in the media that don’t reflect either the kind of company that we’ve wanted to build, nor the kind of culture that I’ve seen around me in my time here… We’re troubled to see some people in the team act against the interests of the company, sometimes in a way that hurts Zilingo’s reputation or the reputation of various people in the organisation.”
In a statement on May 2,
Zilingo’s board said that Bose made allegations of harassment only after she was suspended, adding that the decision to suspend her was taken jointly by the board, and did not reflect the decision of any particular investor.
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“After receiving certain complaints of a serious nature, the board placed [Bose] on suspension pending a full investigation. Contrary to claims that have been circulating in the media, this decision was taken jointly by the board and the relevant shareholders… and does not reflect the decision of a single shareholder,” the board’s statement said.
Zilingo’s troubles come at a time when some Sequoia-backed companies have been in the news for issues related to corporate governance and financial audits. These include fintech firm BharatPe and social commerce platform Trell.
In April, Bloomberg reported that
Sequoia Capital India managing director Shailendra Singh had left Zilingo’s board.
“Over the years, as you know, numerous people – women as well as men – have joined Zilingo at a junior level and have grown with the company into positions of leadership, and it makes me as a leader truly proud and happy that we’ve been able to create a positive culture of growth… Zilingo not only has a nearly even gender ratio but also has a number of women in leadership roles,” Kapoor added in his note.
Zilingo raised $226 million in a funding round in 2019, led by existing investors Sequoia Capital, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund Temasek and others, after which it was valued at $970 million. It also raised a bridge round of $35 million from existing shareholders in 2021.
