India's Next Wearable Tech Frontier: Challenges And Opportunities

Social media is abuzz with Deepinder Goyal's 'Temple', which is dubbed as an experimental device to be used for real-time gauging brain blood flow. The new platform is considered a new push in the wearable tech industry in India.

Goyal's Temple likely banks on a Gravity Aging Hypothesis (GAH) which essentially says that cerebral blood flow declines with age and that gravity and posture are among a relatively long list of things that are responsible for aging.

According to Moneycontrol, Temple is a new entity that is responsible for experimental devices. One of the experimental devices is a patch that sticks to a person's temple, and realtime tracks brain flow. The entity is separate from Continue, a health tech entity by Goyal.

Continue is essentially a research-focused company which has investment by Goyal. In October this year, Goyal had injected USD 25 million in the company.

The report also says that Temple is in talks to raise a funding of USD 50 million from the likes of Steadview Capital, Vy Capital, Info Edge and Peak XV Partners (formerly Sequoia Capital India), among others.

Interestingly enough, Goyal had led Ultrahuman's USD 35 million Series B round. Existing investors Blume Ventures, Steadview Capital, Nexus VP, and Alpha Wave had also participated in the round. Entrackr reports that Goyal had led the round with Rs 83 crore while Alpha Wave and Blume Ventures infused Rs 66.34 crore and 29.86 crore, respectively. It's also worth highlighting that Ultrahuman co-founders Mohit Kumar and Vatsal Singhal had sold their first startup Runnr to Zomato in September 2017. Later, Runnr merged with Mumbai-based TinyOwl.

Responding to a user's post on LinkedIn, Goyal said following on his new venture:

Hey Shubham, wrong on one count, and right on others -

While conducting research on the Gravity Aging Hypothesis, we had to make an experimental device to calculate Brain Flow accurately, real-time, and continuously. Been using it for a year, and I've been feeling that this could shape into an important wearable the world needs. Brain Flow is already well accepted as a biomarker for aging, longevity as well as cognition. So this device is useful and relevant even if the Gravity Aging Hypothesis turns out to be wrong.

And Temple is going to be a small cute company, if at all. Nothing compared to Eternal.

PS: We didn't "cook up" the Gravity Aging Hypothesis to sell Temple. Not my game to lose the trust our customers have in me over a marketing gimmick.

An overview of wearable tech in India: Smart Rings in focus

India's wearable tech market is expected to hit a revenue of nearly USD 9 billion by 2030, posting a CAGR of 19.4 percent, according to a Grandview Research report. Wearable tech consists of devices such as wristwatches, fitness bands, eyewear, and so on.

Of the categories mentioned above, smart rings have gained quite a bit of momentum owing to multiple factors. First, post-pandemic a lot of people have become more conscious about tracking fitness and keeping track of health metrics. These rings are not exuberantly priced either, therefore, it remains budget-friendly. Moreover, with technology becoming more reliable and better such as more features, easy-to-use interface, and longer battery life make it a more attractive proposition for the young and old generation, especially those keen on fitness gadgets.

According to an IDC report, smart rings shipments saw a YoY growth of 2.8 percent with 75,000 units shipped in 2Q25. The growth, regardless of a modest one, was a rebound from the first-ever decline in the first quarter of 2025, according to the research agency, which also revealed that Ultrahuman, Gabit, and Aabo command the market with a cumulative share of 65 percent. It's worth noting that there are other brands like Samsung (Galaxy Ring), Oura, and Amazfit (Helio Ring) operating in the India market.

Having said that, the wearable is fairly a large market in the making. With platforms like Temple, clearly there is scope for more experimental devices which are easy to use and actually provide some useful insights to users. This clubbed with actionable insights, AI, and human mentorships could definitely open up a new window of opportunity for innovators in India. Even as health remains one of the most obvious use cases, there are also other avenues of opportunities, such as payments.

Muse Wearables, a Bengaluru-based startup, recently announced that they had teamed up with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) to launch what the company describes as India's first wearable payments ecosystem. The so-called ecosystem is powered by Muse Wallet and NPCI's RuPay network. Essentially, users of Muse Wearables' smart ring, dubbed Ring One, can make secure payments by tapping the device on any NFC-enabled POS terminal.

Speaking with Entrepreneur India, Muse Wearables cofounder and CEO KLN Sai Prasanth, said that India has strong talent but limited experience in full-stack hardware and manufacturing because very few companies build end-to-end products here. That's why we invest heavily in creating these capabilities.

"The biggest gaps today are in advanced sensor research, algorithms, and machine learning. If we continue building deep-tech consumer electronics in India, more people will gain experience and the ecosystem will naturally strengthen," he said.

Prasanth also disclosed that his company is launching across D2C, retail, and commerce channels in the US next quarter, and expanding into Europe and several Asian markets as well.

"The 'Made in India' tag is not a deterrent—as long as we deliver an exceptional product and customer experience. We have partnerships with major US universities to publish accuracy studies using Ring One, and we're going live with payments next quarter through one of the largest fintech companies in the US, taking our reach to a much wider audience," he added.

More than smart rings

Apart from rings, patches with basic connectivity are also gaining traction. A couple of years ago, cricketer Shreyas Iyer used the Ultrahuman M1, a wearable patch that helps users track glucose levels. It's essentially a continuous glucose monitor (CGM)—a small device that measures your body's glucose levels in real-time. The Ultrahuman app connects with the CGM in real-time, giving users personalized, actionable insights.

Sports stars like Virat Kohli, Cristiano Ronaldo, and LeBron James are seen using Whoop bands, which allow users to get physiological tracking, sleep analysis, and recovery insights. Moreover, there are a bunch of smart patches (read: real-time glucose monitors) available on e-commerce platforms and fitness platforms.

A Fusion Future

Success of Ultrahuman, Muse Wearables' global ambitions, and Goyal's Temple help India push forward its narrative of building in India, including in areas considered sophisticated tech. Another trend to watch out for is the blurring line between consumer-focused health devices and medical-grade diagnostics. We've already seen multiple use cases of Apple Watches.

Experts believe future wearable devices will remain compact and intuitive but at the same time improve the technology under the hood to give more actionable insights to users. With AI in the mix, and open-sourced data framework could make these devices much more useful by allowing for personalized, predictive health interventions. This could very well be seamlessly integrated in large-scale healthcare systems for better predictive, preventive, and personalised care.