Ankiti Bose

Ankiti Bose (born 1992) is a 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 (age 30) Dehradun
Nationality	India
Alma mater	St. Xavier's College, Mumbai
Employer(s)	Zilingo McKinsey & Company Sequoia Capital
Known for	Fashion technology

Early life and education

Bose is from India.^[5] She completed her schooling from Cambridge School, Kandivli, Mumbai^{[citation needed]}. 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]

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.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
13. Lee, Yoolim. "Ankiti Bose, Southeast Asia's Tech Sensation". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 20 February 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
19. "CEO Awards 2019 Winners | Business & Corporate News". 28 August 2019. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
20. "Singapore 100 women in tech list 2020:". ChannelNewsAsia. Retrieved 11 September 2020.