By David Uberti

The onetime shoe brand that sold 2010s-era techno optimism in footwear form is jumping into the AI race. Sure, why not?

Allbirds shares are going vertical Wednesday after the company said it raised $50 million in financing to "pivot its business to AI compute infrastructure, with a long-term vision to become a fully integrated GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) and AI-native cloud solutions provider."

The direct-to-consumer company that was once a darling of the venture-capital world sold for just $39 million last month. Now, the firm will join a long line of previous companies that have tried to ride tech booms.

Remember Zapata, the oil-company-turned fish-protein-business that vied to become an internet giant during the dot-com boom? Or Long Island Iced Tea, which pivoted to crypto in 2017?

Investors are giving the company, which expects to change its name to "NewBird AI," a chance: Shares recently rocketed more than 300% higher Wednesday after a relentless years-long selloff.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 15, 2026 10:05 ET (14:05 GMT)

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