Deepinder Goyal’s start-up Temple raised $54 million in a seed round at a $190 million valuation
Investors include early Zomato backers and 80 individuals, such as founders of Cred, Zerodha and Paytm
Over 30 Temple employees invested their own capital at par valuation, showing immense internal confidence
Eternal founder Deepinder Goyal on Friday announced that his wearable start-up Temple has raised its first round of investment. He revealed that the start-up has raised $54 million from family and friends at a valuation of approximately $190 million.
In a post on Linkedin, Goyal stated that every investor that participated in this round is either a founder friend or early-stage Zomato investor who wanted in, whether or not Temple ever makes it to market.
3 February 2026
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The founder also revealed that some employees of Temple also participated in the round at the same valuation, with no discount.
He said, “But here's what gives me goosebumps – more than 30 Temple employees participated in the round, at par valuation. No discount. Their own money. That's the kind of belief you can't buy.”
This comes after Goyal in a separate Linkedin post announced that Temple is hiring for Engineers, who should also be fit.
Temple’s Hiring Parameters
He stated that Temple is building a device that is to be used by elite athletes. Hence, the engineers of the company should not only be able to build it but also use it, so that the end product is of desirable quality.
“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 about both the craft and the category. Engineers who are also athletes. People who will wear what they build, and hate it until it's perfect,” Goyal said.
He listed a series of engineering roles that the company is hiring for. It included positions like Analog Systems Engineers, Electronics Design Engineers, Embedded Systems Engineers, Design and Validation Engineers, CMF Engineers, Adhesive Materials Engineers, Sensor Algorithms Engineers, Deep Learning Engineers and more.
The founder kept a body fat percentage requirement of less than 16% for men and 26% for women, to be eligible to apply for the roles. For people who are not on the given fitness level but are still interested in applying shall meet the standards in three months, until then they will stay on probation.
Goyal said, “we are building for people who push their bodies to the edge. We want to be those people, not just serve them. So only people who take fitness seriously, and have body fat <16% (men) and 26% (women) should apply. If you're not there yet but will commit to getting there in three months, you can apply too; but you'll be on probation until you are.”
