Allbirds, Inc.·Technology

Investors' response to the former shoe company's pivot may say something important about the outlook for neocloud companies.

When Liza Moiseeva first heard that Allbirds was pivoting to AI, she thought it was satire.

Meme stocks are darlings of retail traders and go viral on social media. They typically are small, relatively illiquid — and unprofitable.

Once a trendy shoe brand among tech-oriented consumers, Allbirds NASDAQ: BIRD is undertaking a huge shift in its business model. The company has sold its shoe product portfolio and is now moving into the market's most discussed area: artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure.

Allbirds stock initially rose 500% on news of its pivot into AI. The company's stock has lost nearly 98% of its value since its IPO in late 2021.

It can be hard to know when what goes up will come down.
Allbirds, Inc. is transitioning to an AI compute infrastructure business. The company plans to acquire high-performance GPU assets and provide dedicated AI compute capacity under long-term lease arrangements, with a long-term vision to become a fully integrated GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) and AI-native cloud solutions provider. It has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its legacy footwear and apparel brand and assets to American Exchange Group and has executed a $50 million convertible financing facility to fund the transition. The company anticipates changing its name to "NewBird AI." Allbirds, Inc. was formerly known as Bozz, Inc. Allbirds, Inc. was incorporated in 2015 and is based in San Francisco, California.
Technology
Software - Infrastructure
542
2021-11-03
2.73