Footwear Retailer Allbirds Raises $50 Million to Transform into AI Computing Company

Odaily News: Footwear retailer Allbirds has announced the sale of its sneaker business and a transformation into an AI computing infrastructure company named "NewBird AI." This news drove the company's stock price to surge by approximately 300% at one point.According to the announcement, Allbirds has agreed to sell its footwear brand to the American Exchange Group. The company will use a $50 million convertible note financing round to deploy GPU computing power and build AI infrastructure. This financing amount is roughly double the company's market capitalization of $22 million prior to the announcement.This move reflects the strong market demand for AI computing resources and the current supply shortage. Following Bitcoin mining companies pivoting to High-Performance Computing (HPC), small-cap companies are also beginning to attempt to enter the AI infrastructure sector. However, the convertible note financing may be converted into equity in the future, potentially creating dilution pressure for existing shareholders. (CoinDesk)