After selling its shoe brand and assets for $39 million last month, Allbirds is turning to AI. Of course, the company is also changing its name, as the footwear brand “Allbirds” was part of the sale. Introducing: Newbird AI, a “fully integrated GPU-as-a-Service and AI-native cloud solutions provider,” the company announced via its investor relations site on Wednesday.
The rebranded AI company also announced a $50 million investment from an undisclosed institutional investor in the form of a convertible financing facility.
It’s objectively quite ridiculous that Allbirds is becoming an AI company — not because it’s unusual for companies to pivot, but because of how extreme this pivot is. The shoemaker that once catered to the Silicon Valley tech set is now becoming a provider of GPUs. This is somewhat absurd – and risky – but you can see how the business arrived at this decision. Following the sale of the assets and brand, Allbirds can keep the shale of the public company (it is traded on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol “BIRD”) and then repurpose it to invest in the hot AI sector.
This recalls the time in 2017 when the Long Island Iced Tea Company turned to blockchain, causing the stock to surge nearly 275% following a rebranding. That pivot did not succeed, as the NASDAQ stock exchange delisted the stock after Bitcoin fever subsided the following year.
The allbirds-turned-newbirds are probably hoping for a different outcome.
The company says the financing and asset sale are still subject to stockholder approval, with a meeting planned for May 18. If the sale goes through, stockholders will receive a dividend during the third quarter. The new owner of the Allbirds brand and assets, American Exchange Group, will continue to produce products for Allbirds customers.
Meanwhile, Newbird AI plans to use the new financing to acquire GPU assets, which it will offer to customers seeking AI compute capabilities. Over time, the company hopes to enhance its service offering through partnerships and even strategic mergers and acquisitions – if the opportunity presents itself.
techcrunch event
San Francisco, CA
|
October 13-15, 2026
