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From Zomato to new ventures: Deepinder Goyal has moved beyond his leadership role at Eternal, exploring high-risk ideas in health technology, longevity and aerospace.
Temple wearable: His health-tech venture Temple is developing a forehead-worn device designed to track metabolic and brain-related signals, with a focus on high-performance users.
Aerospace ambitions: Goyal is backing LAT Aerospace, which aims to develop regional aircraft and improve connectivity between smaller cities and towns through short-haul air travel.
Deepinder Goyal, founder of Zomato, built and expanded the company around a simple problem: long lunch queues at his first job in 2008. What started as a restaurant listing website has now turned into Eternal Limited, formerly Zomato Limited, a company that touches food delivery, grocery, dining out, and even ticketing.
Goyal himself has moved on from daily operations, stepping down as CEO in February 2026, but his influence on the company's direction has not slowed down. His story now shows how a food delivery founder is pushing the boundaries of what food technology can mean in India.
Also read: Zomato Layoffs: 250 Jobs Hit as Hyderabad Support Centre Shuts
The name change from Zomato to Eternal was not just a cosmetic update. Goyal explained the rebrand as a way to separate the parent company from its individual brands, Zomato, Blinkit, District and Hyperpure, each serving a different part of the food and retail ecosystem.
He called it a cultural mission to build a company that lasts beyond any single business model. The numbers support this shift. In Q4 FY26, Eternal's consolidated adjusted revenue rose 186 percent year-on-year to Rs. 17,680 crore, while adjusted EBITDA grew 160 percent to Rs. 429 crore. Food delivery alone no longer defines the company, and that was the point all along.
Eternal's acquisition of Blinkit in 2022 turned out to be one of its most important decisions. Quick commerce gave the company a second growth engine at a time when the food delivery segment was slowing down.
Blinkit now competes directly with Swiggy's Instamart and has grown into a business that rivals, and in some quarters exceeds, food delivery in scale. Albinder Dhindsa, who led Blinkit's expansion, has since taken over as Group CEO of Eternal, a move that signals how central quick commerce has become to the company's future. Goyal has said food delivery in India will likely keep growing at over 20 percent a year. It is clear, however, the company is no longer betting on just one segment.
Goyal has been vocal about artificial intelligence and what it means for consumer platforms. In the company's Q4 FY26 shareholder letter, he wrote that AI is a friend to Eternal, not a threat. The company expanded its OpenAI partnership in February 2026, rolling out AI tools across Zomato, Blinkit, District and Hyperpure.
These tools support everything from internal operations to how users search for food and products. Zomato has also built a Model Context Protocol-based system that allows food ordering through simple text prompts, letting people order using full sentences instead of short search terms.
Goyal believes this richer form of communication will help the platform serve customers who were once too small or too complex to serve efficiently. Industry experts at the India AI Impact Summit 2026 pointed out that trust in this kind of agentic commerce will need supporting infrastructure, similar to Aadhaar for identity or UPI for payments. None of these systems currently exist for AI-driven commerce, and that gap remains a real challenge for the industry as a whole.
Stepping down as CEO after eighteen years was a significant move for Goyal, and it came with a clear intent. In his resignation letter, he said he wanted to focus on exploration and experimentation beyond the company's core businesses.
He remains vice chairman of Eternal and keeps his ownership stake, so his financial future is still tied to the company's performance. Since stepping back, Goyal has turned his attention to ventures that sit far outside food and grocery delivery.
Goyal is backing Temple, a health-tech startup working on a wearable device that measures cerebral blood flow. The startup received a USD 54 million investment from Peak XV Partners and Steadview Capital in February 2026. He has also put money behind LAT Aerospace, an aviation venture, showing an appetite for frontier technology that goes well beyond his original business.
Why this Matters
Goyal's shift can be seen as a wider trend among Indian founders redirecting capital into riskier ventures. Eternal's move into quick commerce and AI-driven commerce reduces its reliance on food delivery alone. This matters for investors, gig workers, and the startup ecosystem, while Goyal's bets on health-tech and aerospace show founders chasing uncertainty over comfort.
Deepinder Goyal's path from managing lunch queues to leading India's largest food-tech platform, and now to backing wearables and aerospace startups, tells a story of constant reinvention.
Eternal's growth into quick commerce and artificial intelligence shows that food technology in India is no longer limited to getting a meal delivered on time. Whether his newer ventures in health and aviation succeed is still an open question. His willingness to move beyond the company that made him a billionaire says a lot about how he thinks about long-term value over short-term comfort.
1. Who is Deepinder Goyal?
Deepinder Goyal is the co-founder of Zomato and the founder of Eternal, the parent company that operates businesses including Zomato and Blinkit.
2. Why did Deepinder Goyal step down as Eternal CEO?
Goyal stepped down to pursue higher-risk ideas and experiments outside the scope of a listed company, while remaining associated with Eternal.
3. What is Temple by Deepinder Goyal?
Temple is a wearable technology venture developing a forehead-worn device aimed at monitoring metabolic and brain-related signals.
4. What is LAT Aerospace?
LAT Aerospace is an aviation venture backed by Goyal that is working on regional aircraft and short-haul air connectivity.
5. What is Deepinder Goyal working on after Zomato?
His current interests include health technology, longevity research, aerospace and other experimental technology projects.
