Allbirds is rebranding as NewBird AI and raising $50M to build AI chip infrastructure
The sustainable sneaker brand is selling its footwear assets and pivoting to GPU-as-a-Service after stock fell below $3
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Allbirds announced plans to pivot from footwear to AI compute infrastructure and rename itself NewBird AI, sending BIRD stock up more than 600% from under $3 a share.
The company said it has signed a definitive agreement with an institutional investor for a $50 million convertible financing facility, expected to close in the second quarter of 2026. The funds are contingent on stockholder approval at a special meeting anticipated for May 18, 2026.
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According to the company, NewBird AI intends to purchase specialized AI compute hardware and make it available through extended lease contracts, serving customers — including enterprises, AI developers, and research organizations — who have been unable to meet their needs through short-term spot markets or large cloud providers. The company's long-term vision is to become a GPU-as-a-Service and AI-native cloud solutions provider, according to the company.
This strategic change follows a $39 million deal in late March, when Allbirds sold its footwear brand and related intellectual property to American Exchange Group. The buyer, which owns brands like Aerosoles and Ed Hardy, plans to keep using the Allbirds name on its products. Stockholders of record as of May 20, 2026, are expected to receive a special dividend after the asset sale, pending stockholder approval.
When it debuted on public markets in 2021, Allbirds commanded a valuation exceeding $4 billion, having been established six years earlier in 2015. The company built its identity around sustainability and natural materials, most notably its merino wool Wool Runner shoe. By 2025, annual sales had dropped to $152 million — roughly half the $298 million the company recorded in 2022 — and in February 2026, Allbirds shuttered every full-priced store it operated in the United States.
Before Wednesday's announcement, the company was valued at about $21 million at the previous session's close. The stock price hit an intraday high of $23, then settled in the $17 to $18 range by publication time.
The announcement draws comparisons to a pattern seen during prior market booms. One frequently cited example is Long Island Iced Tea, a beverage company that renamed itself Long Blockchain Corp. during the 2017 crypto frenzy and was subsequently removed from the Nasdaq $NDAQ exchange the following year, as Yahoo Finance noted.