Allbirds Rebrands to Smartbird, Secures $100M Funding and Appoints Ex-Amazon CEO
BIRD•Allbirds has rebranded as Smartbird, exiting retail by selling $39 million in assets and closing most stores to complete shift toward AI infrastructure. It named former Amazon executive Nadia Carlsten as CEO and raised secured convertible note funding to $100 million to back GPU cloud services and AI clusters.
1. Corporate Rebranding and Retail Exit
Smartbird name change to reflect shift from footwear to AI infrastructure, effective after amendments in Delaware this week. The company eliminated its public benefit corporation designation and exited consumer operations by selling brand and shoe assets for $39 million and closing most stores.
2. Leadership Appointment
Former Amazon executive Nadia Carlsten was appointed CEO and President to lead Smartbird's AI strategy, bringing experience in large-scale cloud services and infrastructure development.
3. Funding for AI Infrastructure
Smartbird expanded its senior secured convertible note facility from $50 million to $100 million to finance the build-out of GPU cloud services and private AI computing clusters targeting enterprise clients.
