After Zomato, Deepinder Goyal makes a comeback with a $54 million investment in brain-monitoring technology

Deepinder Goyal Returns with Major Investment in Wearable Tech Startup Temple

Not long after leaving his CEO position at Zomato and its parent company Eternal, Indian entrepreneur Deepinder Goyal has re-emerged with a significant $54 million funding round for his new wearable technology venture, Temple. This move aligns with Goyal’s recent emphasis on pursuing bold, experimental projects.

Goyal announced on X that Temple secured this investment through a friends-and-family round, attracting support from fellow founders and early Zomato investors. The company’s post-money valuation now stands at approximately $190 million, with over 30 employees investing at the same valuation.

In January, Goyal handed over the leadership of Zomato and Eternal to Albinder Dhindsa, who heads the quick-commerce platform Blinkit. This leadership change marked the end of Goyal’s nearly 20-year tenure at the food delivery giant he co-founded in 2008.

Temple: Pioneering Wearables for Elite Athletes

Temple represents Goyal’s new direction, focusing on developing advanced wearable devices tailored for top-tier athletes. He has described this field as one that holds significant potential for technological breakthroughs.

During a conversation with podcaster Raj Shamani earlier this year, Goyal explained that Temple’s wearable is a sensor designed to be worn on the temple, continuously monitoring cerebral blood flow.

In a separate post on X, Goyal shared Temple’s ambition to create “the ultimate wearable for elite performance athletes,” claiming their device will track metrics that current wearables cannot measure. He also revealed that Temple is actively hiring across areas such as embedded systems, computational neuroscience, and brain–computer interface engineering.

We're recruiting at .

At Temple, we are building the ultimate wearable for elite performance athletes. A device that measures what no other wearable in the world measures, with a level of precision that doesn't exist yet.

To build it, we need people who are obsessive…

Competing in a Crowded Wearables Market

Temple enters a competitive landscape, facing established players like Whoop, Oura, and Garmin, all of whom have spent years perfecting devices that monitor sleep, recovery, and athletic performance. Whether Temple’s technology will stand out remains to be seen.

Expanding Investment Horizons

Goyal’s involvement with Temple is part of a broader shift in his investment strategy. In October 2025, he pledged $25 million of his own funds to Continue Research, a venture dedicated to longevity science. He also co-founded LAT Aerospace, which recently expanded into defense technology through the acquisition of Sharang Shakti, an early-stage company.

Legacy at Zomato and Focus on Health Tech

Goyal is best known for co-founding Zomato with Pankaj Chaddah and steering it for nearly two decades, transforming it into one of India’s leading food delivery services. Chaddah departed in 2018, as Zomato continued to grow through major acquisitions, such as the purchase of Uber Eats’ India operations in 2020 and the acquisition of Blinkit (formerly Grofers) for $568 million in 2022.

Before launching Temple, Goyal also invested in health and fitness startups, including Ultrahuman, an Indian company developing wearables that compete with Oura’s smart ring, highlighting his growing interest in performance and health technology.

Goyal has declined to provide additional comments regarding Temple at this time.