Footwear maker Allbirds, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIRD) formally changed its name to "Smartbird, Inc." on June 17, 2026, and appointed former AWS executive Nadia Carlsten as President and CEO, completing its pivot into an AI infrastructure company.
June 17, 2026 · NASDAQ: BIRD
Goodbye Allbirds, Hello Smartbird: A Sneaker Brand Becomes an AI Compute Provider
Allbirds, Inc. completed the sale of its footwear business, renamed itself Smartbird, Inc. (keeping the ticker BIRD), and relaunched as a provider of managed private AI clusters for compliance-heavy enterprises.
$100M
Convertible facility — doubled from $50M to fund the AI strategy
$0
Revenue so far — still pre-revenue, first cluster in design
'26–'27
Expected window for first deployment and monetization
Financing doubled
The convertible facility was doubled to bankroll GPU procurement and cluster build-out.
The full-stack service model
A fully managed, long-term GPU cluster lease — aimed at pharma, finance and public-sector buyers with strict compliance, security and data-sovereignty needs.
Bull case
Targets dedicated, managed infrastructure that hyperscalers and spot markets can't fully serve. Some observers call the pivot intriguing — and a trading catalyst.
Bear case
Pre-revenue with no real-world feedback; stock has fallen sharply from April highs. Longtime fans say the sustainability brand has been destroyed.
New leadership · transition complete
Nadia Carlsten, PhD
President & CEO (incoming)
Lily Yan Hughes
Board Chair
Annie Mitchell
CFO (continuing)
Former CEO Joe Vernachio stepped down as the name change and leadership reshuffle formally completed the move from sneakers to AI compute. Competitors include CoreWeave, Crusoe and hyperscaler private-cloud options.
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