Allbirds rebrands as Smartbird and names Nadia Carlsten CEO
Business
Allbirds just hit refresh: it's now called Smartbird and has swapped sneakers for AI infrastructure services.
Leading the charge is Nadia Carlsten, a former Amazon Web Services executive known for her work in AI and quantum computing, who is stepping in as the new president and CEO.
Smartbird boosts financing to $100 million
Earlier this year, the company sold its footwear business to American Exchange Group for $39 million and closed most stores.
Now, Smartbird is all about helping clients get into AI without huge upfront costs: it's building out its first tech clusters and chatting with potential customers.
To make it happen, it has upped its financing to $100 million to buy graphics processors, with Lily Yan Hughes joining as board chair to help steer this big pivot.