Deepinder Goyal raises $54M for new wearable startup Temple

Deepinder Goyal, the former CEO of Indian food delivery platform Zomato, has raised $54 million for his new startup, Temple. The early-stage funding round, structured as a friends-and-family round—which refers to early-stage funding sourced from a founder’s personal network—values the company at a post-money valuation of about $190 million. Goyal announced the funding on Friday on the social media platform X, marking his first major venture since stepping down as chief executive of Zomato in January.

Temple is building a high-performance wearable for elite athletes. The wearable is a sensor designed to sit on the wearer’s temple and continuously track cerebral blood flow. Goyal has described the device as “the ultimate wearable for elite performance athletes,” claiming it will measure metrics that existing wearables cannot. To support the development of this technology, Goyal has outlined an expansive hiring push for the startup, targeting roles in embedded systems, computational neuroscience, and brain-computer interface engineering.

The launch of Temple represents a broader shift in the 43-year-old entrepreneur’s focus toward what he previously described as “higher-risk exploration and experimentation.” This transition follows his departure from Zomato, the company he co-founded in 2008 alongside Pankaj Chaddah, who exited the business in 2018. Goyal spent nearly two decades building Zomato into one of India’s largest food delivery platforms before stepping down as chief executive earlier this year. Under his leadership, the company consolidated its market position through major acquisitions, including purchasing Uber Eats’ India business in 2020 and buying grocery delivery platform Blinkit for $568 million in 2022. Beyond Temple, Goyal’s recent high-risk technology bets include a $25 million personal capital commitment in October 2025 to Continue Research, a venture exploring human lifespan extension, and co-founding the aviation startup LAT Aerospace.

According to regulatory filings, Goyal is leading the funding round, followed by Steadview Capital. More than 30 employees also participated in the round at the same valuation. Other institutional investors in the round include:

• Peak XV Partners
• InfoEdge Ventures
• Dharana Capital

Goyal declined to comment further on Temple.

Why it matters

Goyal’s pivot from food delivery to high-risk health tech highlights a broader trend of successful founders in India moving into deep-tech and longevity research.