Accelerating Appalachia

Appalachia is a world HUB
for sustainable businesses
Food, energy, agriculture, climate and community resilience,
so establishing the world’s first nature-based accelerator
to support these innovators was the natural next step.
Accelerating Appalachia is responding
to success and growing demand

Who We Are

Accelerating Appalachia is the first-of-its-kind program accelerating the regenerative economy by connecting “basic needs businesses” in food, clothing, shelter and wellness to regenerative business development training, peer businesses, mentors, aligned value supply chains and investors committed to people, place and prosperity. We attract and scale high-impact, seed-stage businesses in the following sectors: Farming, Food, Forest products (natural building/furniture) and non-timber forest products (ginseng, mushrooms, fruit & nut trees), Fiber/ Textiles, Craft Brewing/ Distilling, Botanicals/Wellness, Outdoor Industry, and other innovative triple bottom-line businesses with special consideration for innovators and entrepreneurs from marginalized populations.

Communities
Our businesses support over 1000 jobs in food, forest products, fiber/textiles and wellness/health. Thousands of acres of farm and forests are in sustainable and regenerative cultivation.
Entrepreneurs
$11.4 million investment leveraged by our business graduates between 2013-2017.
Women
75% of businesses are women-led or co-led. We actively recruit minority-led businesses.

Find out More

Latest Blog Posts

April 4, 2016/by dayna

Appalachia is a world HUB
for sustainable businesses