Zilingo co-founders make buyout offer to prevent liquidation: Report

Kapoor said he was making a 'preliminary, non-bidding offer' to pay off an outstanding debt of $48 million

Co-founders of Zilingo, Dhruv Kapoor and Ankiti Bose, have proposed to take back control of the Singapore-based fashion ecommerce company to prevent its liquidation, according to a report by the Mint quoting sources.

Kapoor, in the proposal sent to the board of the company on Sunday evening, said that he had "firm investor commitments" and he was making a "preliminary, non-bidding offer" to pay off an outstanding debt of $48 million owed to Varde Partners and Indies Capital. He also said the he would infuse $8 million in fresh equity into the company. He owns 8.5 per cent stake in Zilingo.

His proposal was immediately backed by Bose, who also owns 8.5 per cent stake in the company.

“As founders, it is our ultimate responsibility to make sure that we do whatever it takes to make sure the lights stay on at Zilingo and in the homes of the hundreds of people who are part of it. No matter what our differences may be, at the end of the day, we started this company with the same goal. Today, we have come together to fight for that same goal," Bose said in a statement.

The board of Zilingo was scheduled to meet on Monday (June 20) to discuss the voluntary liquidation of the company's assets.

DH could not independently verify the report.

The company -- which has about 600 employees in eight countries -- raised $226 million in its last fundraising round in early 2019. The fundraising had valued the company at about $1 billion.

As per publicly available records on Singapore's accounting regulator's website, the company has not filed annual returns for 2020 and 2021 so far.

A few months ago, Zilingo had suspended its 30-year-old CEO and cofounder Ankiti Bose, a former Sequoia analyst, over suspected financial irregularities. She was later dismissed in what Bose has said was a wrongful termination.