Allbirds Is Pivoting to AI Compute. Sure, Why Not | WIRED

Save StorySave this storySave StorySave this storyOn April 7, Allbirds sent out a press release celebrating its new “canvas cruiser” collection and a partnership with Pantone, the color company. One week later, on April 15, Allbirds sent out a press release announcing that the brand will “pivot its business to AI compute infrastructure.” AI comes at you fast.In fairness, it’s been an eventful month for Allbirds. The startup’s fall from grace has been long-brewing and well-documented, but here’s the short version. While its comfortable-yet-presentable footwear propelled it to a $4 billion valuation when it went public in 2021, its sales never quite matched the hype. After years of financial losses, it finally sold whatever was left of its intellectual property to American Exchange Group, a “brand management” company that also owns the likes of Aerosoles and Ed Hardy. The price: $39 million. That was March 30.And now? American Exchange Group will presumably work to revitalize the Allbirds apparel business, starting with those canvas cruisers. But Allbirds itself will focus its efforts on turning a $50 million cash infusion (or “convertible financing facility”) into “high-performance GPU assets,” eventually building out a “fully integrated GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) and AI-native cloud solutions provider.” As befits a reinvention of this magnitude, Allbirds will also get a new name, NewBird AI.Allbirds is hardly the only company to pivot to compute. Boom Supersonic is trying t...