Tipsy Collective Sues Former Directors, HR Head; Seeks to Recover Over $14 Million

The legal battle over control of home-grown hospitality group Tipsy Collective has taken another turn.

- Joyce Lim

The company—now led by its majority shareholders who gained control after a boardroom shake-up in 2024—has filed a lawsuit against its former leadership. It is seeking to recover more than $14 million in losses and damages from a string of alleged wrongful payments, mismanagement, and unauthorized deletions of company records.

In its statement of claim filed on June 12, the plaintiffs—Tipsy Collective and three of its subsidiaries (Tipsy Bird, Social Room Concepts, and Tipsy Collective Singapore)—allege breaches of fiduciary and contractual duties by three former directors: David Gan Jia Liang, Derek Ong, and Reuben Low Kok Cherng, and former human resources manager Avril Lim Qian Jun.

Mr. Gan, the former chief executive of the group, founded Tipsy Collective with Mr. Ong in 2019.

Following internal disputes, the bloc of investors and shareholders who oppose Mr. Gan has increased its collective stake from 59.39 percent to 97.3 percent, according to the latest shareholder records from the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority.

Mr. Gan currently owns 1.66 percent of the company's shares, and Mr. Low holds 1.03 percent.

As Mr. Ong died in August 2023, his wife, Ms. Melody Huang Bao'er, who is the administrator of his estate, was named as the second defendant in the lawsuit.

This new lawsuit follows an earlier court battle reported by The Straits Times in September 2024, in which Mr. Gan had sued eight parties—including investors and shareholders—claiming they had breached a shareholders' agreement and tried to unlawfully seize control of the company.