Allbirds officially changes its name to Smartbird and appoints former AWS executive as CEO

Glonghui, June 18 — Formerly a popular sneaker manufacturer, Allbirds has officially rebranded as Smartbird and appointed former AWS executive Nadia Carlsten as Chief Executive Officer, marking the company’s complete shift from footwear to artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure services. Carlsten has also joined the company’s board of directors and taken on the roles of President and CEO, succeeding the departing Joe Vernachio. In March this year, the company sold its brand and footwear assets to American Exchange Group for $39 million. After announcing its transformation to AI infrastructure computing in April, the company’s stock price surged more than fivefold at one point. Smartbird stated that it now positions itself as an AI infrastructure provider, offering AI infrastructure services in the form of managed services, enabling enterprises to avoid bearing significant upfront equipment costs. The company said it is actively negotiating with potential clients and designing the first deployments of AI infrastructure clusters. The company also announced it has expanded its convertible financing arrangement from $50 million to $100 million. The funds will be used to purchase graphics processing units (GPUs) to support its AI infrastructure business.