Zomato founder apologizes to Indian doctors after controversial Temple post
What's the story
Deepinder Goyal, the founder of food delivery giant Zomato, has apologized to Indian doctors after a controversial post on X. The post was in response to criticism of his new health wearable, Temple. "I should not have bucketed all Indian doctors into one single box," Goyal said in his apology. He clarified that Temple works with many doctors and even mentioned that his elder brother is one of them.
Targeted criticism
Goyal's initial post drew ire from many doctors
In his initial post, Goyal expressed his frustration toward "a few influencer doctors, who are more influencers than doctors."
He accused them of skipping Temple's research and spreading false information to label the device as a scam.
The Zomato founder also claimed that these critics wouldn't target a first-time founder making the same product because it wouldn't get them views.
Defense strategy
Temple has cost $30 million to develop so far
In a seven-point note titled "Dear Concerned Indian Doctors," Goyal defended Temple's 14-day, no-questions-asked return policy. He said even Apple doesn't offer such a deal in India.
The Zomato founder also revealed that Temple has cost $30 million to develop so far, with $20 million of it being his own money.
He said that selling a few thousand units would only recover a small part of that investment.
Device details
What is Temple?
Temple is a small, bean-shaped device that sits near the superficial temporal artery, held in place by medical-grade tapes called Grips.
It tracks heart rate, HRV, sleep, and VO2max, and adds its own metric called Entropy. This measures how hard the body works to shed heat.
Goyal says Temple will release preprints ahead of peer-reviewed papers to prove its scientific claims.
Pre-orders are open with shipments scheduled for early 2027.
Twitter Post
Take a look at Goyal's post
Apologies where they are due: last night, I should not have bucketed all Indian doctors into one single box. We work with so many of them. Even my elder brother is one of them.
— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) November 6, 2026
All my emotion last night was directed at a few influencer doctors, who are more influencers than…