Appalachian Investors Alliance

The Appalachian Investors Alliance (AIA) is a non-profit educational organization that facilitates investment and workforce development to stimulate economic and job growth via the application of entrepreneurship and innovation.  AIA provides technical services, tailored instruction, and professional coaching to angel investors, startup founders, and academic or student entrepreneurs—working to organize and deploy capital throughout the “American Heartland” into new and small businesses with non-extractive business models.  

Supported by the Appalachian Regional Commission’s POWER program, AIA has worked with more than 120 startups, and partnered with hundreds of regionally focused investors in more than a dozen affiliated angel venture funds.  The organization has helped to seed ~$18 million of private capital into companies responsible for creating over 650 jobs.  AIA’s directors and principals bring collective, extensive experience in public and private market investing, financial management and business administration, operations, sales, marketing, analytics, technology transfer commercialization, and government affairs.  The Alliance’s objective is to help impact investors create maximum economic effect with their locally applied capital; moreover, to fundamentally improve chances in the region for building sustainable, value-generating business.