Shoe Brand Allbirds Announces Pivot to AI; Stock Rises Almost 600 Percent

The deal awaits shareholder approval and is expected to close in the second quarter.

The Allbirds flagship store sign is seen in Manhattan, New York, on Sept. 7, 2021. Shannon Stapleton/Reuters

Allbirds, following the sale of its assets and shoe brand, announced on April 15 that it is pivoting to artificial intelligence (AI) and will receive $50 million in a convertible financing facility. Allbirds will change its name to “NewBird AI.”

“The rise of AI development and adoption has created unprecedented structural demand for specialized, high-performance compute that the market is struggling to meet. ... Enterprises, AI developers, and research organizations are unable to secure the compute resources they need to build, train, and run AI at scale,” Allbirds said in its press release. “NewBird AI is being built to help close that gap.”