GoKawiilTwo months after its unexpected artificial intelligence rebrand, Allbirds is changing its name to Smartbird and appointing a new chief executive.
The shoemaker-turned-AI infrastructure firm on Wednesday named Nadia Carlsten as CEO and board member, replacing current CEO Joe Vernachio.
Carlsten previously led Amazon Web Services' quantum computing center and worked at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Most recently, she was CEO at DCAI, an AI infrastructure company that recently partnered with Nvidia and is home to a supercomputer known as Gefion.
Shares of BIRD soared 34% on Wednesday.
Allbirds surprised investors in April with plans to shift from making shoes to AI compute infrastructure and hardware. At the time, the company rebranded to NewBird AI and its market cap surged sevenfold.
A month earlier, the company sold its footwear assets to the brand management company American Exchange Group for $39 million. Allbirds also shuttered its U.S. full-priced stores in February.