Cuff Raises Millions, Teams Up With Richline

Cuff wants to bring the world of fashionable jewelry to wearable technology, and now with a new investment of $5 million led by NEA, they are off to do just that*. The startup has created pieces of jewelry with beautiful designs and all the functions of a smartband. Now, the San Francisco Bay Area company has partnered up with the Richline Group to place their products in stores throughout the United States.

Cuff’s CuffLinc Chip, and a few of the jewelry options offered.
Source: Cuff.

While Cuff’s bracelets, necklaces, and keychains are as stylish as anything you’d find in a department store, they also carry a small chip that allows the jewelry to become a smartband. Deepa Sood, the founder of Cuff, compares the chip–called CuffLinc technology–to Intel Inside for computers.

With the CuffLinc chip in the jewerly, Cuff pieces can act as activity trackers, and they can vibrate when your smartphone gets a notification. In addition to these basic wearable services, Cuff goes beyond to help the women they’re marketing to by including a personal safety function. Women who experience any sort of danger can press her finger on her Cuff piece to send a distress signal with a GPS location.

Thanks to Richline, Cuff will be across the country sooner than you think. Richline, a subsidary of Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway that specializes in jewelry, plans to distribute Cuff’s jewelry and create exclusive lines for all kinds of retailers, including QVC, Macy’s, and Tiffany and Co. Right now, Cuff’s jewelry ranges from $50 to $150, but if a line with Tiffany’s is in the works, those prices could be much higher.

*This funding was first reported by Sarah Buhr at TechCrunch, who says investors include Tandem Capital and Tugboat Ventures.

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