Allbirds, the footwear company once synonymous with its wool runners and a strong emphasis on sustainability, is pivoting entirely away from its original business. It is reinventing itself as an artificial intelligence infrastructure firm under a new banner: Smartbird.
The San Francisco-based company, which is publicly traded on Nasdaq under the ticker BIRD, announced Wednesday that it has finalized the sale of its Allbirds shoe and apparel operations. This move, initially disclosed in April, also saw the appointment of Nadia Carlsten, a seasoned executive from the AI and advanced computing sector, as its new president, CEO, and a member of its board.
Investors responded favorably to the latest developments. BIRD shares surged 52% on the day, reaching a recent price of $5.99. This follows a volatile period in April, when the stock saw a significant jump from $2.49 to a high of $24.31 before retracing most of those gains. Despite the fluctuations, BIRD shares remain up 46% year-to-date.
Carlsten joins Smartbird from DCAI, a company specializing in GPU compute infrastructure, where she previously served as CEO. In that role, she was instrumental in the launch of a sovereign AI supercomputer in collaboration with Nvidia. Her professional background also includes positions at Google spinoff SandboxAQ and Amazon Web Services, where she contributed to the introduction of Amazon’s quantum computing service. Carlsten holds degrees in chemistry and physics from the University of Virginia and an engineering doctorate from the University of California at Berkeley.
She succeeds Joe Vernachio, who is departing the company and its board. Lily Yan Hughes, an independent director, has been appointed board chair, while Annie Mitchell will continue in her role as chief financial officer. The company had previously considered rebranding as NewBird AI before ultimately selecting Smartbird.
“Smartbird is entering the market at a pivotal moment in the evolution of AI infrastructure,” Carlsten stated. “AI is rapidly becoming mission-critical for organizations across every industry, yet many organizations lack a practical path to deploy and operate the dedicated infrastructure these workloads require.”
She further elaborated, “There is a clear opportunity to meet the growing need for enterprise-grade AI infrastructure that delivers control and performance without the capital and operational burden of hardware ownership. With a differentiated strategy, significant capital, and the opportunity to build an exceptional team, we are uniquely positioned to capitalize on one of the most significant infrastructure opportunities of the next decade.”
As part of this strategic shift, the company has increased its convertible financing facility from $50 million to $100 million. This infusion of capital will enable Smartbird to develop what it describes as managed, dedicated AI computing clusters for its enterprise clients. The company indicated that it is actively engaged in discussions with potential customers and is currently designing its initial cluster deployments.
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