Allbirds’ AI venture launches with a vision but no staff

In April, Allbirds’ shift toward AI seemed like a scene ripped from Silicon Valley coming to life: the direct-to-consumer footwear brand, known for its minimalist designs and defining a certain tech-culture aesthetic, jumped on the latest trend.

This strategy mirrored the playbook of meme stocks like GameStop: take a struggling public company, attach it to the hottest trend, and watch the stock surge as retail investors rush in.

It paid off. The company sold its footwear division for $43 million, raised an additional $100 million from the stock market, and rebranded as Smartbird.

Nadia Carlsten now faces the challenge of making it work. A former AWS executive holding a PhD in engineering, Carlsten previously led the European compute firm DCAI before assuming the role of Smartbird’s CEO yesterday.

“We are building a new team for the AI division and securing office space,” Carlsten told TechCrunch from Amsterdam. “The shoe business officially closed yesterday, so that chapter is done… My immediate priority is assembling the leadership team, including finding someone to oversee infrastructure operations.”

Think of it as a startup with a single founder and a substantial seed round. The next steps remain uncertain.

Smartbird positions itself as an AI infrastructure provider, capitalizing on the insatiable demand for compute power needed to train and run deep learning models. Unlike neoclouds, which aggressively arbitrage chip prices against GPU time or inference costs, Carlsten targets more controlled deployments. Smartbird’s ideal clients require direct server control—often for regulatory or business reasons—and prioritize data sovereignty over the scalability of public clouds.

Carlsten declined to estimate the market size, noting it is still emerging as many companies experiment with AI tools. At DCAI, she collaborated with Novo Nordisk and other European firms focused on data sovereignty or custom models. “We serve clients across pharmaceuticals, energy, finance, and the public sector,” she explained.

In Carlsten’s view, Smartbird competes not with hyperscalers or neoclouds, but with internal corporate projects. However, established players like Hewlett Packard and Equinix already offer single-tenant managed AI compute services.

This is a viable business model, though its growth potential may not match the explosive expansion seen in cloud services. Carlsten expects to deploy compute clusters for several clients by year-end. Other startups, such as General Compute, have more ambitious goals, recently announcing a $300 billion chip order upon exiting stealth.

Carlsten argues that massive chip commitments are unnecessary for Smartbird’s vision, as potential clients require hundreds to thousands of chips. “It’s not about massive GPU counts; it’s about cluster agility and full control over the infrastructure stack,” she noted.

Smartbird is unlikely to compete on price, as cloud providers optimize chip usage around the clock to offer the cheapest compute. However, Carlsten believes companies with specialized workflows can operate more efficiently on their own servers.

While AI infrastructure demand has driven up stock prices for chipmakers, cloud providers, and energy firms—and even sparked interest in orbital data centers—Carlsten maintains that Allbirds’ pivot was deliberate.

“This wasn’t just ‘Let’s do AI because it’s trendy,’” said Carlsten, who earns a $700,000 annual salary and received approximately $9 million in stock to take the role. “It was about whether we could build a sustainable business by finding and growing within a specific market niche.”

When Allbirds pivoted, it relinquished its public benefit corporation (PBC) status, which had previously enshrined the sustainability commitments central to its brand. PBCs are often used to highlight non-financial goals; for instance, OpenAI is a PBC focused on AI safety. This shift suggests that PBC status is not immutable.

Carlsten stated that Smartbird’s board has committed to executing her AI strategy long-term.

“Some companies are chasing AI,” she told TechCrunch, “but what truly matters is whether there is substantial commitment behind the pursuit.”