Ankiti Bose

Ankiti Bose (born 1992) is the co-founder of e-commerce start-up Zilingo. She has been featured in Forbes Asia 30 Under 30 list in 2018 as well as in Fortune's 40 Under 40 along with Bloomberg 50 in 2019.[1] On 31 March 2022, she was suspended as CEO after an attempt to raise capital raised questions about Zilingo's accounting practices, according to Bloomberg.[2] On 20 May 2022 Bose was fired from Zilingo.[3][4]

Ankiti Bose
Born (1992-07-15) 15 July 1992
Dehradun
Nationality India
Alma materSt. Xavier's College, Mumbai
Employer(s)Zilingo
McKinsey & Company
Sequoia Capital
Known forFashion technology

Early life and education

Bose is from India.[5] She completed her schooling from Cambridge School, Kandivli, Mumbai. She studied mathematics and economics at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai.[6]

Career

Bose started her career working at McKinsey & Company and Sequoia Capital in Bangalore.[7] After a trip to the Chatuchak Weekend Market[8] Bose noticed that fashion markets in Southeast Asia had immense room for penetration and growth.[6] The market includes over 11,000 independent merchants lacking an online presence.[6] Whilst there was investment in improving access to the internet, Bose recognized that retailers were not trained in financing, scaling-up, website design, and procurement nor well equipped to compete with large global players.[7]

In 2015, Bose left her position as an investment analyst at Sequoia Capital to launch her own company, Zilingo.[9] Bose was twenty three when she founded Zilingo.[10] She moved to Singapore in 2016, where she developed the software and supply chain solutions.[11]

In 2019, Zilingo raised $226 million in Series D fundraising, resulting in a $970 million market value.[12][13] As of 2019, it had over seven million active users leveraging the global platform.[7]

The China–United States trade war resulted in United States retailers leaving China, which allowed Zilingo to expand into America.[13] She has worked to source Indian fabrics for Californian factories as well as opening offices on the West Coast and East Coast.[13] At Zilingo, Bose supported a program to train women in Indonesia to create clothing, recognising that in Indonesia almost 40% of women leave the workforce after they get married.[13][14] Zilingo set up a coaching programme to support leaders across the company.[13]

In March 2022, Bose was suspended, from Zilingo with allegations of financial misrepresentation and mismanagement, pending an investigation. Among other allegations, shareholders questioned her S$50,000 per month salary which according to her contract five years ago was S$8,500. Her management style of using intimidation to extract compliance in her daily working in Zilingo was also called into question.[15]

Bose has spoken at the World Economic Forum in India.[16]

Awards and honours
  • 2018: Named in Forbes 30 Under 30 - Asia - Big Money[17]
  • 2019: Fortune magazine's 40 Under 40[1]
  • 2019: The Bloomberg 50[18]
  • 2019: Business Worldwide Magazine Most Innovative CEO of the Year – Singapore[19]
  • 2020: featured in Singapore 100 Women in Tech List[20]
  • 2021:selected as a Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst.[21]

References
  1. "Ankiti Bose". Fortune. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  2. "Temasek-backed Zilingo suspends CEO amid accounting probe - Bloomberg News". Nasdaq. Retrieved 12 April 2022.
  3. "Zilingo finally fires CEO Ankiti Bose after 51-day suspension—for 'insubordination'". Fortune. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
  4. "Zilingo Fires CEO as Clash Over Embattled Startup Escalates". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 20 May 2022.
  5. "Meet the 27-year-old Ankiti Bose running a nearly $1 billion fashion startup". The Economic Times. 13 February 2019. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  6. Gilchrist, Karen (23 May 2019). "Meet the 27-year-old set to be India's first woman to co-found a $1 billion start-up". CNBC. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  7. Gilchrist, Karen (24 May 2019). "Why this 27-year-old is happy she worked a corporate job before starting her $1 billion business". CNBC. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  8. "How a trip to a Thai market inspired the launch of an almost $1bn start-up". The National. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  9. Karen Gilchrist (24 May 2019). "Why this 27-year-old is happy she worked a corporate job before starting her $1 billion business". CNBC. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  10. Xinyi, Hong (6 September 2019). "At 27, Ankiti Bose Is Set To Become The First Indian Woman To Found A Billion-Dollar Startup. This Is How She Did It". Hong Kong Tatler. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  11. "Ankiti Bose is on a mission to level the playing field for women". Prestige Online. 29 May 2019. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  12. "For growing into the next e-commerce unicorn". Generation T. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  13. Lee, Yoolim. "Ankiti Bose, Southeast Asia's Tech Sensation". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  14. "In Good Company". Verve Magazine. 21 January 2020. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  15. "How a Celebrity CEO's Rule of Fear Helped Bring Down Hot Startup Zilingo". Bloomberg. Retrieved 7 August 2022.
  16. "India Economic Summit". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
  17. "30 Under 30 Asia 2018: Big Money". Forbes. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  18. "The Bloomberg 50 Broadcast (Podcast)". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
  19. "CEO Awards 2019 Winners | Business & Corporate News". 28 August 2019. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
  20. "Singapore 100 women in tech list 2020". ChannelNewsAsia. Archived from the original on 7 September 2020. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  21. "The Bloomberg New Economy Catalyst List". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 19 July 2023.
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