Internet Explorer creator, Thomas Reardon, has raised approximately $500 million for Flourish, a brain-inspired AI efficiency startup valued at $2.5 billion. The startup uses connectomics and neuroscience to design AI architectures that are more energy-efficient than building new chips. Lux Capital and GV, the same investors who backed CTRL-labs, are expected to lead the round. The company aims to make artificial intelligence less power-hungry by borrowing design principles from the human brain, which already runs intelligence efficiently. The power consumption of data centres, AI workloads, and related infrastructure is expected to double globally by 2022, and data centres could account for 3% of global electricity consumption by 2030. The IEA has suggested that AI itself could help reduce energy consumption through grid optimisation and efficiency improvements, but Florish is focusing on changing the design of the AI systems themselves.