Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation

Jerry Rickett has served as President and CEO since 2001 and is the named executive responsible for investment strategy and operations. The corporation also maintains an investment committee drawn from regional banking and economic development professionals. Specific committee members are not publicly listed.

KHIC is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) community development corporation. It is also certified as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) and a Community Development Entity, which allows it to receive New Markets Tax Credit allocations from the U.S. Treasury. This nonprofit structure means returns from exits are recycled into new investments rather than distributed to limited partners.

KHIC does not operate a traditional closed-end fund. It uses a combination of federal grants, New Markets Tax Credits, state economic development funds, and retained earnings from prior investments to deploy capital. This permanent-capital structure distinguishes it from venture firms that must return capital to LPs on a fixed timeline.

KHIC provides direct equity investments, royalty-based financing structured as a percentage of revenue, and near-equity debt. Financing is targeted at seed and early-stage companies. Ticket sizes are not publicly standardized and are evaluated on a case-by-case basis relative to the project's impact on the 22-county service region.

The corporation operates across 22 counties in southeastern Kentucky, anchored from its headquarters in London, Kentucky. While the core service area is within Kentucky, KHIC participates in co-investment partnerships that extend into Tennessee and West Virginia through regional development networks including the Appalachian Regional Commission.

Deal flow originates from a network of regional economic development authorities, local banks, Small Business Development Centers, and direct applications submitted through the corporation's website. Unlike coastal venture firms, KHIC's sourcing does not depend on venture capital syndicates or accelerator cohorts — it is embedded in the public-sector economic development infrastructure of Appalachia.

Neither. KHIC is a private, nonprofit corporation that originated from a federal anti-poverty program in 1968 but operates independently with its own board of directors and investment authority. It receives government funding through competitive grant programs and tax-credit allocations, but its investment decisions are made by its own management team, not by government officials.