Nadia Carlsten, former AWS executive, has taken the helm as CEO of Smartbird, the new AI venture born from the remains of shoe company Allbirds. The company has sold its shoe business for $43 million and raised an additional $100 million from the stock market. Carlsten's plan is to recruit a new team and establish an office, with the goal of providing AI infrastructure to customers who value direct control over their servers and data sovereignty.
Smartbird will be targeting companies that require bespoke models and prioritize data control, such as those in the pharmaceutical and financial industries. The company will not be competing with hyperscalers or neoclouds, but rather with internal company projects.
Carlsten expects to have compute clusters deployed for several customers by the end of the year, and believes that Smartbird's focus on agility and control will set it apart from competitors.
