Allbirds, once a buzzy shoe startup, pivots to AI
NBC News • • general
Key Points:
- Allbirds, once popular in Silicon Valley for its footwear, is rebranding as "NewBird AI" and shifting its business focus to AI compute infrastructure, backed by a $50 million funding deal.
- The company plans to invest in high-performance GPUs to offer GPU-as-a-service and AI-native cloud solutions, addressing the growing demand for specialized AI computing power.
- Following a decline in its shoe market performance and closure of U.S. retail stores, Allbirds sold its footwear brand assets to American Exchange Group for $39 million.
- The pivot to AI infrastructure aligns with the booming demand for AI compute resources as companies rapidly develop and deploy new AI models.
- Allbirds’ shares surged over 500% after the announcement, reflecting investor optimism about the company’s new direction.
