Allbirds Rebrands to Smartbird, Boosts Financing to $100M as Shares Surge 52%
BIRD•Allbirds completed the sale of its footwear and apparel business, rebranded as Smartbird and appointed AI veteran Nadia Carlsten as CEO. The company raised its convertible financing facility from $50 million to $100 million for enterprise AI clusters, triggering a 52% surge in shares.
1. Strategic Pivot and Rebranding
Allbirds has completed the sale of its footwear and apparel operations and reinvented itself as Smartbird, signaling a full departure from its former consumer goods identity. The new entity will focus on providing dedicated AI infrastructure solutions marked by managed, enterprise-grade computing clusters.
2. Leadership Overhaul
Nadia Carlsten, previously CEO of DCAI and a veteran of GPU compute and quantum services at Nvidia, SandboxAQ and Amazon Web Services, has been named CEO and board member. She succeeds Joe Vernachio, while independent director Lily Yan Hughes assumes board chair and Annie Mitchell continues as CFO.
3. Capital Expansion and Share Rally
Smartbird doubled its convertible financing facility from $50 million to $100 million to fund initial AI cluster deployments and enterprise engagements. Investors responded with a 52% one-day stock surge to $5.99, extending a 46% year-to-date gain.
