Observed Signal · Jun 19, 2026 · Hiring · Source: techcrunch · Impact: 2/5 · Sentiment: Neutral
Allbirds Becomes Smartbird; New CEO Launches AI Infrastructure
Allbirds sold its shoe business, raised additional capital from the market, and rebranded as Smartbird to pursue an AI infrastructure business. Nadia Carlsten, a former AWS executive who led European compute firm DCAI, started as Smartbird’s CEO in mid‑June 2026. Carlsten says she will recruit a new leadership and engineering team, establish offices, and target customers that require direct control over servers for data sovereignty or business/political reasons. Smartbird plans carefully managed, single‑tenant compute deployments rather than competing on price with hyperscalers; Carlsten expects to deploy compute clusters for several customers by year‑end. The article notes established competitors in this space (Hewlett Packard, Equinix) and other startups pursuing large chip orders. The company dropped its public benefit corporation status during the pivot; Carlsten’s compensation includes a $700,000 salary and about $9 million in stock awards.
Corporate pivot and CEO appointment signal a new entrant in AI infrastructure focused on data sovereignty; notable but not industry‑shifting for AdTech/MarTech.
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Key Takeaways & Evidence Grounding
- Allbirds sold its shoe business for $43 million and rebranded as Smartbird.
- The company raised an additional $100 million from the public market.
- Nadia Carlsten, former AWS executive and ex‑leader of DCAI, began as Smartbird CEO in mid‑June 2026.
- Carlsten’s reported compensation: $700,000 annual salary plus roughly $9 million in stock awards.
- Smartbird intends to provide managed, single‑tenant AI compute deployments prioritizing data sovereignty and customer control; aims to have clusters deployed for several customers by year‑end 2026.
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Allbirds Rebrands to Smartbird, Hires AI-Focused CEO
Allbirds announced a further step in its pivot to artificial intelligence on June 17, 2026, rebranding again to Smartbird and appointing Nadia Carlsten as CEO and board member, replacing CEO Joe Vernachio. Carlsten previously led Amazon Web Services' quantum computing center and was CEO of AI infrastructure company DCAI, which houses a supercomputer called Gefion and has partnered with Nvidia. The company had earlier rebranded to NewBird AI in April and shifted from footwear to AI compute infrastructure after selling its footwear assets to American Exchange Group. Allbirds’ shares (BIRD) jumped about 39% on the news. The move is one of several notable corporate pivots toward AI this year, including similar shifts by companies like Myseum.
Allbirds Rebrands as Smartbird, Appoints Nadia Carlsten CEO
Allbirds Inc. formally changed its corporate name to Smartbird Inc. and announced a strategic pivot to provide AI infrastructure, the company said on June 17, 2026. The Nasdaq-listed company will continue trading under the ticker BIRD. Smartbird named Nadia Carlsten as president and chief executive and added her to the board; she replaces Joe Vernachio, who resigned and will lead the Sorel brand at Columbia Sportswear Company. The change follows the sale of the Allbirds brand and footwear assets to American Exchange Group (in partnership with WSG Brands). Smartbird increased its convertible financing facility from $50 million to $100 million to support its AI infrastructure strategy. The announcement highlights Carlsten’s background at DCAI, SandboxAQ and Amazon Web Services and the company’s intention to pursue GPU-as-a-Service and AI-native cloud offerings.
Allbirds Rebrands as Newbird AI, Pivoting to AI Infrastructure
Allbirds announced a strategic pivot from footwear to AI infrastructure, renaming itself Newbird AI and planning to provide low-latency AI hardware and leased infrastructure to companies underserved by major cloud providers. The company said it has already exited the shoe retail business, closed all stores in February 2026, and sold intellectual property and other assets for $39 million to the American Exchange Group, which will continue the Allbirds footwear brand. Allbirds reported revenue falling from $298 million to $152 million between 2022 and 2025. The company aims to raise up to $50 million by the end of June to acquire AI hardware. Investor reaction drove an intraday stock surge of over 700%, with the share price rising from about $3 to above $24 before settling near $18 on April 15.
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