The war of words over Deepinder Goyal's Rs 85,000 health-tracking wearable, Temple, has intensified, with hepatologist Dr Cyriac Abby Philips, popularly known as ‘The Liver Doc', hitting back at the Zomato founder's defence of the device.
Philips has questioned Temple's scientific claims, particularly its ability to measure brain blood flow and ‘entropy', and accused the company of misleading users through unproven claims and questionable research methodology.
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Deepinder Goyal has strongly defended Temple, following criticism from medical professionals.
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"As expected, he has written a word salad. This man has provided no real evidence or proof that his device, which he is selling for INR 85,000/- can measure and interpret brain flow from a superficial artery (superficial temporal artery - which is an extracranial artery - meaning a blood vessel placed entirely outside the skull, supplying blood to the side of the face, temple, and scalp regions)," The Liver Doc said in a post on X.
"There is no our science and your science. But there is bad science, fringe science and science fraud and Team Temple, embraced all of these. Temple device is a scam. There is no doubt about it."
The The Liver Doc further asked, "The question is however, how long can this man and his team keep defrauding people under the garb of "we are spending millions for you" or "we are trying our best" or "we are taking the risk" kind of responses? These farts in the windtunnel responses are not what is expected from a company who's website claims "solid science".
So $900 for a mere fitness tracker made in India with different claims?, asked the doctor.
The founder of the wearable device Temple, Mr. Deepinder Goyal (who has blocked me on Twitter) has now put out an official statement regarding concerns raised by the medical community on the said device being a scam. As expected, he has written a word salad. This man has provided no real evidence or proof that his device, which he is selling for INR 85,000/- can measure and interpret brain flow from a superficial artery (superficial temporal artery - which is an extracranial artery - meaning a blood vessel placed entirely outside the skull, supplying blood to the side of the face, temple, and scalp regions). His own Science Lead (Avi Roy) has accepted that the fact that their device is not yet proven to measure brain flow or "entropy" as they claim on their website and additionally, has directly addressed concerns of poor methodology as well as statisitical misrepresentation, without respond to clear evidence of data falsification in their pre-print papers. Other wearables like Whoop (which he cited) measured and validated exactly what the wearable can measure within limits of human anatomy and physiology. Temple is overdoing it and defrauding its potential customers. The device can only measure blood flow and flushing to the face in humans and has ansolutely NOTHING to do with the brain as they claim. This is the issue, not what can happen in the future. The device itself fails its primary objective. There is no our science and your science. But there is bad science, fringe science and science fraud and Team Temple, embraced all of these. Temple device is a scam. There is no doubt about it. The question is however, how long can this man and his team keep defrauding people under the garb of "we are spending millions for you" or "we are trying our best" or "we are taking the risk" kind of responses? These farts in the windtunnel responses are not what is expected from a company who's website claims "solid science". There is solid fraud though - pathetic little businessmen.
— TheLiverDoc™ (@theliverdoc) November 5, 2026
Defending the product in a series of posts on X, Goyal said approximately $30 million had been invested in Temple's development, including $20 million from his personal funds. He argued that such substantial research and development expenditure contradicted allegations that the venture was intended to make quick money.
"We have 14-day, no-questions-asked returns (which even Apple doesn't offer in India). If the product doesn't work, it fails out of the gate and the company dies before recovering a tenth of its R&D," he added.
Goyal further said his decision to step down as CEO of Eternal, the parent company of Zomato and Blinkit, was driven by his commitment to pursuing Temple rather than financial considerations. He added that he would not risk his professional reputation for short-term gains.
Addressing concerns over scientific validation, Goyal cited wearable technology company Whoop, arguing that established products had also entered the market before their validation studies were published.
Dear Concerned Indian Doctors, I see your rage against Temple on X. I have a few points to make: 1. First and foremost, a business lesson: if Temple were a scam, and any of what we said weren't true, people would know it in just a few days of using Temple. We have 14-day, no-questions-asked returns (which even Apple doesn't offer in India). If the product doesn't work, it fails out of the gate and the company dies before recovering a tenth of its R&D. 2. We have already spent $30m building Temple, $20m out of which is my own money. Selling a few thousand devices recovers a small fraction of this investment. A scam that pays nothing is not a scam anyone would run. 3. I left the Eternal CEO role to chase purpose with Temple. This is not about money. I have enough of it to last for generations. My incentives are fully aligned with getting the science right. I am not staking a reputation earned over 20 years on making a quick buck. 4. Our employees bought into our round a few months ago. The round we're raising now is mostly our customers. Scams don't build that cap table. 5. Most wearable companies start with internal studies. Whoop shipped its band in 2015, and the first published validation followed a few years later. We hold ourselves to a higher standard; pre-prints are a step prior to peer reviewed publications, and they are coming up. 6. At some point you have to stick your neck out and say: we believe in our science, and the product is now valuable enough for people to pay for and use. We believe we are there. More validation continues in public. 7. We are confident that we are building something that the world is going to be positively astonished with. We stand by our science and our methods. Each of our claims is easily verifiable by individuals and institutions alike, and you will see a lot of independent studies come up on their own when the device becomes available to use. Last but not the least, the most ground breaking features in Temple are not even public yet. And some of them, thankfully, have nothing to do with doctors ???? Hope this addresses some or all of your concerns. If not, keep raging ????????
— Deepinder Goyal (@deepigoyal) November 5, 2026
He said Temple's scientific preprints and independent studies would be made available as research progressed. He also hinted that several advanced features of the device had not yet been publicly disclosed.
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