KP Labs (NVIDIA Inception startup)

KP Labs is a Texas-based cleantech startup developing modular, Physical AI-driven bio-process units that recover critical metals (Ni, Co, Li, Cu and others) directly at industrial waste sites — eliminating the need for costly centralized smelters or long-distance transport. Their technology converts metal-laden wastewater and sulfide-rich feedstocks into high-value battery-grade metal sulfide commodities at a fraction of the capital and operating cost of conventional hydrometallurgical or pyrometallurgical approaches. The company serves three primary markets — environmental remediation, resource recovery, and mining — and targets verticals including e-waste recycling, data centers, geothermal/mine brines, and industrial effluents. KP Labs operates out of Greentown Labs in Houston and has collaborations with Argonne National Lab, IIT Roorkee, and the University of Houston, with lab-scale validation completed and a 50 kg/day pilot scale-up in progress.

Critical metals powering over $3.7 trillion in high-growth industries face serious supply risk, yet existing centralized urban mining facilities require $30–80M in capital, charge $150–$300/ton in transport costs, and are built for scale rather than distributed waste sources. Metals are also increasingly contaminating drinking and groundwater with no cost-effective on-site recovery solution.

KP Labs deploys modular 20-ft ISO container units directly at waste sites, using a multi-biology bio-process platform combined with membrane stacks and IoT-based Physical AI SCADA controls to selectively extract and refine metal sulfides in a single pass. With CAPEX of $280K per module, OPEX of $2.89/kg, and a ~14-month payback period, the system is orders of magnitude more capital-efficient than hydrometallurgy ($2–4M/tonne-day) or pyrometallurgy ($5–10M/tonne-day).

KP Labs has secured 3 host site agreements, 2 customer LOIs, and 3 partnerships, with exploratory projects underway in Oklahoma (black mass), Houston (metal sludge), and India (digestate). The company has raised $71,250 to date (self-funding, fellowships, friends & family), filed 1 non-provisional and 2 provisional US patents, and has been selected into NVIDIA Inception, NSF I-Corps, Nucleate Texas '26, Plug and Play, VentureWell Boston, and Rice University Energy Venture Day.