Allbirds Becomes Smartbird, Names New CEO Amid AI Shift
The company also doubled its convertible financing facility to $100 million as it shifts to dedicated AI infrastructure managed services.
- On Wednesday, Smartbird Inc. officially completed its pivot from footwear, appointing Nadia Carlsten as president and chief executive officer after selling its shoe assets to American Exchange Group.
- Once recognized for sustainable wool sneakers, Allbirds was valued at $4 billion after its 2021 IPO but faltered during the pandemic, prompting the company's abrupt pivot toward AI infrastructure announced in April.
- Smartbird bolstered its balance sheet by doubling its convertible financing facility to $100 million, enabling the company to provide dedicated, single-tenant AI infrastructure clusters to enterprise customers under long-term lease arrangements.
- New CEO Carlsten, formerly of Amazon Web Services and DCAI, told Business Insider she was "blissfully unaware of all things Allbirds" and predicted, "in a few months, people won't even remember the shoes."
- Execution risks remain high as Smartbird builds infrastructure from scratch; analyst Steve Hochman, managing director at Nagarro, described the pivot as a "wait-and-see" story given capital intensity and unproven market demand.
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Solid AI infrastructure over flashy AI glasses... B2C versus B2B is what separated the stock prices of Allbirds and Snap. While the stock price of an IT company that unveiled 3 million won state-of-the-art AI glasses plummeted, a successful eco-friendly sneaker manufacturer in Silicon Valley announced its entry into the AI infrastructure business and changed its name.
Allbirds renames itself Smartbird in AI pivot
Allbirds, the sustainable footwear company that went public at a $4.1 billion valuation in 2021, has officially renamed itself Smartbird and appointed a new chief executive to lead its pivot into AI compute. Shares surged more than 50% on Wednesday morning before pulling back. The rebrand completes a transformation first announced in April, when the company […] This story continues at The Next Web
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