Allbirds becomes Smartbird, names ex-AWS executive Nadia Carlsten CEO to cement AI pivot

What's the deal? AllbirdsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → (NASDAQ: BIRD), the sustainable-footwear brand turned AI-infrastructure hopeful, changed its name to Smartbird on 17 June 2026 and appointed AI veteran Nadia CarlstenDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → as chief executive and board member. Carlsten succeeds Joe Vernachio, formalising one of the most unusual corporate transformations of the AI era. BIRD shares jumped roughly 34% on the announcement.

Who is the new CEO? Carlsten most recently ran the Danish Center for AI Innovation, an NVIDIA-partnered infrastructure organisation home to Gefion, one of Europe's most advanced AI supercomputers. Her background running GPU-scale compute operations is meant to lend credibility to a company that, until weeks ago, was best known for wool sneakers.

Why now? The rebrand completes a pivot that began in April 2026, when the company — then briefly renamed NewBird AI — announced it would abandon footwear for AI compute infrastructure, sending its market value up roughly sevenfold. That came shortly after it sold its footwear assets to brand-management firm American Exchange GroupDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → for $39M, closing the chapter on the business that made it a household name.

The signal: Smartbird is attempting a CoreWeave-style reinvention — from a consumer brand into a capital-intensive GPU-infrastructure provider — and investors are, for now, rewarding the AI label. The harder test is whether a former sneaker maker can convince customers and partners it belongs in one of the most demanding corners of tech. The enthusiastic market reaction also underscores how far AI repositioning has spread across public markets since late 2022.

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