Zomato founder Deepinder Goyal on Friday announced that his new health tech venture, Temple, has secured $54 million in its first funding round from friends and family, valuing it at about $190 million.“Temple has raised its first round. Friends & Family. $54 million. Post-money valuation ~$190 million,” Goyal said on X.Temple, which is developing a wearable device for elite performance athletes, made headlines earlier in the day when Goyal posted a recruitment advertisement for “athletes who are also engineers and scientists.” The advertisement specified that male candidates should have less than 16 percent body fat and female candidates should have less than 26 percent body fat, attracting amusement and attention online.In his statement, Goyal highlighted the support from close associates and early-stage Zomato investors. “Each investor in this round is a friend of the founder or an early-stage Zomato investor who wanted to see Temple ever hit the market or not,” he wrote.He said, “More than 30 Temple employees participated in this round at equal valuation. No discounts. Their own money. That’s the kind of trust you can’t buy.”Temple is actively hiring for a variety of roles ranging from Analog Systems Engineers to Computational Neuroscientists. Goyal stressed that the startup is building “the best wearables for high-performance athletes” and is looking for employees who are themselves committed to extreme fitness. Applicants who do not meet the body fat requirements can still apply if they commit to achieving the goal within three months, although they will be on probation until then.Meanwhile, Goyal, who last month resigned as managing director and group CEO of Zomato and Blinkit parent company Eternal to pursue high-risk experimental ventures, continues as vice chairman of the company.
