Flower Labs, a Y Combinator-backed startup, has launched a preview of Flower Intelligence, a distributed cloud platform for serving AI models. Mozilla has already integrated the platform to power the Assist summarization add-on for its Thunderbird email client.
Designed for seamless AI computing, Flower Intelligence enables on-device AI processing for mobile, PC, and web apps, with the ability to shift workloads to a private cloud when needed — with user permission. The system prioritizes local execution for speed and privacy, while leveraging Flower’s Confidential Remote Compute service for more intensive tasks.
Unlike proprietary alternatives, Flower Intelligence operates entirely on open models, including those from Meta’s Llama, DeepSeek, and Mistral. Ryan Sipes, Managing Director at Mozilla Thunderbird, emphasized that the platform enables on-device AI that keeps sensitive data private.
Developers can now apply for early access, with broader availability and new features — including custom model fine-tuning and federated cloud training — coming soon. Flower Labs will showcase further capabilities at its upcoming summit in London on March 26.
Founded in 2023, Flower Labs has raised $23.6 million from investors including Felicis, Hugging Face CEO Clem Delangue, Betaworks, and Pioneer Fund, with Brave as an early collaborator.
