Bengaluru: Eternal founder Deepinder Goyal’s healthtech startup Temple is looking to raise fresh capital at a valuation of around $500 million, while pricing its first wearable device at approximately Rs 80,000, people familiar with the matter told TOI.The pricing is still indicative and will include lifetime access to Temple’s software platform. Buyers will also receive a lifetime supply of the adhesive tapes used to attach the pebble-shaped device to the side of the forehead, near the temple, the people said.Unlike smartwatches and rings that capture signals from the wrist or finger, Temple is betting that the temple region of the head offers a richer source of physiological data.According to people familiar with the product, the device measures blood-flow-related signals from the temple region, an area with a dense blood supply that could provide deeper insights into how the body responds to sleep, food, exercise and stress.At the heart of Temple’s platform is a proprietary metric called “Entropy.” In a post in June, Goyal described Entropy as the real-time cost the body pays to stay alive. The score, displayed on a scale of 1 to 250, updates every second to reflect the body’s physiological state.A lower score while at rest is considered healthier. Entropy rises when the body is under physical or mental demand and falls as it recovers. Activities such as exercise, sleep, meals, coffee, meditation and even cold-water immersion can influence the reading, Goyal said.Temple will track both the highest and lowest Entropy levels recorded by users over time. The company believes a healthy body should be able to withstand periods of high stress and exertion while returning quickly to a low-resting state.The startup is positioning the wearable around healthy ageing and longevity, arguing that measurements taken from the temple could reveal physiological insights beyond conventional metrics such as heart rate.The device is expected to be targeted initially at high-performance athletes, professionals and health-conscious consumers willing to pay a premium for continuous metabolic and recovery data.Temple raised $54 million earlier this year at a valuation of around $190 million. If the proposed funding round is completed at $500 million, it would more than double the startup’s valuation within months.
