The move boosted shares of the miniscule market cap company \u2014 it was valued at about $21 million at Tuesday’s close \u2014 by more than 400%. The shares, which were under $3 a day ago, jumped to above $13.<\/p>\n
The company announced that it’s pivoting its business to AI compute<\/a> infrastructure on Wednesday in a release posted to its investor relations page.<\/p>\n The new company, which expects to be called NewBird AI, announced a deal to raise up to $50 million in funding, expected to close in the second quarter of 2026.<\/p>\n “The Company will initially seek to acquire high-performance, low-latency AI compute hardware and provide access under long-term lease arrangements, meeting customer demand that spot markets and hyperscalers are unable to reliably service,” the company said in the announcement.<\/p>\n Allbirds announced a deal with American Exchange Group<\/a> to sell its intellectual property and other assets for $39 million last month. <\/p>\n American Exchange Group is a brand management company focused on the accessory space. According to the release, it will continue to sell products under the Allbirds brand. <\/p>\n Allbirds closed all of its U.S. full-priced stores<\/a> in February.<\/p>\n The company is the latest firm looking to cash in on the AI boom that’s ignited a fever on Wall Street since OpenAI launched its ChatGPT chatbot in 2022. <\/p>\n AI infrastructure is a notoriously expensive and complex business, but it can be lucrative. Nvidia<\/a>, which dominates the market for graphics processing units, has ballooned into the most valuable company in the world with a market cap that’s approaching $5 trillion<\/a>.<\/p>\n There’s a history in the stock market of troubled companies pivoting to the hot industry of the moment in order to garner interest. During the Bitcoin boom, several companies would announce a blockchain tie-in<\/a> or convert outright to a cryptocurrency company<\/a> to reignite interest in the stock.<\/p>\n Once a Wall Street darling valued north of $4 billion, Allbirds was founded in 2015 by former professional soccer player Tim Brown and renewable resources expert Joey Zwillinger. <\/p>\n The idea was to create a new category of shoes that didn’t rely on plastics and other petroleum products but instead, natural materials. <\/p>\n In 2016, they introduced their debut shoe \u2013 the Wool Runner \u2013 made with merino wool and became an instant success<\/a>, particularly among “tech bros” that were drawn to the brand’s comfort and sustainability.<\/p>\n It embarked on an ambitious store opening plan and went public in 2021<\/a>, but soon saw its business begin to slow as trends changed, competitors moved in and customer acquisition costs rose.<\/p>\n
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