Smartbird names Nadia Carlsten CEO as it shifts from shoes to AI

In short: Smartbird, formerly Allbirds, has a new CEO and plans to build an AI computing business, even though it currently has no employees for it.

What happened

Smartbird is the new name of the company that used to be the shoe brand Allbirds. After a recent shift toward artificial intelligence, the company sold its shoe business for $43 million and raised another $100 million from the stock market, according to TechCrunch.

Nadia Carlsten started this week as Smartbird’s CEO. Carlsten previously worked at Amazon Web Services and led a European computing company called DCAI. She told TechCrunch her first job is to recruit a leadership team and set up an office.

Smartbird says it wants to sell AI infrastructure, meaning the computers and chips needed to train and run AI models. Think of it like providing the engines and power supply that make AI work, rather than selling an AI app.

The company’s focus is on customers who want direct control of the physical servers running their AI. This can be important for “data sovereignty,” which means keeping sensitive data stored and handled under certain local rules, often for government, health, energy, or finance work.

Why it matters

This story shows how strong demand is for the hardware behind AI, not just chatbots and apps. It also shows the risk. Smartbird has money and a plan, but it still needs to hire people and prove there are enough customers who will pay for more controlled, private computing instead of using big public cloud services.

Source: TechCrunch AI