Kentucky Blood Center

What Kentucky Blood Center does

Kentucky Blood Center (KBC) is a nonprofit community blood bank founded in 1968 and headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky. Operating under FDA licensure (21 CFR Part 640), it is the largest FDA-licensed blood bank headquartered in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the supply backbone for more than 70 hospitals across the state. The organization relies on voluntary donations collected at fixed donor centers and through mobile blood drives, targeting 400 donors per day to meet daily patient need of 400 pints. Product offerings include whole blood, platelets (apheresis), and double red cell donations, supplemented by Therapeutic Phlebotomy for patients with conditions such as hemochromatosis, a Reference Lab serving hospital clients, and a Milk Bank Depot (human breast milk collection) recently extended to a Tri-County site. Donor engagement tools include the QuickPass online pre-registration system and an integrated donor portal built on a recently migrated software platform, with community outreach spanning social media, university partnerships (University of Kentucky Big Blue Slam, University of Florida rivalry), and "Live Local | Give Local" brand messaging.

The underlying technology stack is conventional for the regulated blood-banking industry: FDA-compliant collection, testing, processing, and storage workflows; apheresis equipment for specialized donations; and online systems for donor scheduling and pre-screening. There is no proprietary AI/ML or platform-architecture differentiation evident in the inputs.

KBC's revenue model is sales of blood products and related services to Kentucky hospitals under negotiated contracts (pricing not publicly disclosed). Demand-side customers are concentrated in the 70+ hospital network. Supply-side 'customers' are thousands of individual volunteer donors, acquired through community marketing, mobile drives, fixed-center walk-ins, university partnerships, and digital campaigns rather than through paid acquisition. As a nonprofit, KBC is not equity-funded; no funding rounds, M&A activity, or external ownership were disclosed.

Name

Kentucky Blood Center

Legal name

Kentucky Blood Center

Website

https://kybloodcenter.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1968

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Kentucky Blood Center is a nonprofit, FDA-licensed blood bank headquartered in Lexington, Kentucky, and the largest such organization in the Commonwealth. It collects voluntary donations at fixed centers and mobile drives to supply blood products and services to 70+ Kentucky hospitals, processing 400 pints per day.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Blood Banking Services

NAICS

Blood and Organ Banks (621991), Medical Laboratories (621511)

SIC

Services-Medical Laboratories (8071)

akta.pro primary industry

Transfusion Medicine & Immunohematology (Blood Bank) (HLAFAMAG)

akta.pro secondary industries

Blood Bank, Transfusion Medicine & Immunohematology (HLAHAAAH), Blood, Organ & Tissue Donation Organizations (BPAGACAJ)

Keywords

• Blood banking services
• Blood collection
• Hospital blood supply
• Platelet donation
• Therapeutic phlebotomy

Headquarters

HQ city

Lexington

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Supply Chain, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Blood products and services to hospitals: Kentucky Blood Center provides blood products and related services to over 70 hospitals throughout Kentucky. As a nonprofit organization, the center collects voluntary donations and distributes blood supplies to healthcare facilities in its service area.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Kentucky Blood Center is a nonprofit, FDA-licensed blood bank that collects voluntary whole blood, platelet, and double red cell donations from volunteer donors and distributes processed blood products to 70+ hospitals across Kentucky. The organization operates fixed donor centers and mobile blood drives to collect approximately 400 pints of blood per day, and also offers therapeutic phlebotomy, a reference laboratory, and a human breast milk depot.

Product overview

Kentucky Blood Center operates as a single, unified nonprofit blood banking service offering blood collection and distribution. The core offering consists of blood donation services (whole blood, platelets, and double red donations) that supply 70-plus hospitals across Kentucky. Additional services include therapeutic phlebotomy for medical patients, a milk bank depot for human breast milk, hospital supply services with ordering and reporting capabilities, and a reference laboratory. The organization provides donor management tools including QuickPass for online pre-registration and maintains fixed donor center locations plus mobile blood drives. The product portfolio functions as an integrated blood banking operation rather than a modular platform.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Blood Donation Services
• Platelet Donations Apheresis-based platelet donation service that allows donors to give platelets separately from whole blood for transfusion use in Kentucky hospitals.
• Double Red Cell Donations Automated red blood cell donation service that enables donors to give twice the amount of red blood cells in a single donation procedure.
• Hospital Blood Products Supply Distribution of collected blood products and related services to more than 70 hospitals across Kentucky, supported by hospital ordering and reporting systems.
• Reference Laboratory Services Specialized reference laboratory providing testing services to hospitals and healthcare providers, supporting transfusion medicine workflows.
• Therapeutic Phlebotomy Medical service providing therapeutic blood removal for patients with conditions such as hemochromatosis or polycythemia.
• Milk Bank Depot Human breast milk collection depot available at all Kentucky Blood Center fixed donor center sites, supporting neonatal nutrition supply.
• Host-A-Blood-Drive Program Coordinated mobile blood drive program allowing community organizations, businesses, and schools to host on-site donation events with KBC support.

Quantifiable outcome

• 1 in 4 people will need blood in their lifetime
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• University of KentuckycoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Annual Big Blue Slam blood drive competition partnership encouraging University of Kentucky students to donate blood. This competitive fundraising and awareness campaign leverages university community engagement to increase blood donations.
• University of FloridacoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2026Collaborative Big Blue Slam blood drive competition between University of Florida and University of Kentucky, with the winning university determined by donor participation. This rivalry-based partnership aims to boost blood donations across both institutions.
• American Red CrossminorOthersReference organization mentioned in blood supply context - the national blood supply fell approximately 35% according to the American Red Cross during winter storm period.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• American Red Cross Blood Services: The largest U.S. blood collector, operating a national network of donor centers and mobile drives. Directly competes with Kentucky Blood Center for hospital contracts and donor recruitment across overlapping geographies and is explicitly referenced in KBC's source materials.
• OneBlood: Large regional nonprofit blood bank serving Florida and parts of the southeastern U.S. Directly comparable in operating model (donor centers, mobile drives, hospital supply) and serves as the counterpart partner in KBC's Big Blue Slam competition with University of Florida.
• New York Blood Center: Regional nonprofit blood center serving the greater New York area and beyond. Comparable in operating model (collection, processing, hospital distribution, reference lab) and in nonprofit governance structure.
• Vitalant: One of the largest nonprofit blood collectors in the U.S., serving hundreds of hospitals across multiple states. Operates the same blood-bank-to-hospital supply model as KBC and competes in adjacent and overlapping regional territories.
• Carter BloodCare: Regional blood center serving hospitals across north, central, and east Texas. Directly comparable nonprofit blood-bank operating model with fixed donor centers, mobile drives, and hospital supply contracts.
• Bloodworks Northwest: Regional nonprofit blood bank serving the Pacific Northwest. Comparable in scale, governance (nonprofit), and integrated collection-to-hospital service model including reference and specialized testing.
• LifeSouth Community Blood Centers: Regional nonprofit blood center operating across Florida, Georgia, and Alabama with a community-driven donor model. Closely mirrors KBC's fixed-center-plus-mobile-drive structure and B2B hospital supply focus.
• Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center: Regional blood center serving the Mississippi Valley region, providing whole blood and specialty products to hospital partners. Same operating model as KBC with regional/domestic focus.
• San Diego Blood Bank: Nonprofit community blood bank serving Southern California hospitals. Same community-driven donor model, FDA licensure, and reference lab capabilities as Kentucky Blood Center.

Regional players

• Héma-Québec: Canadian blood operator with a unified provincial model for collection, processing, and hospital distribution. Operates the same nonprofit blood-bank business model as KBC but in a different geography, making it a useful functional comparable rather than a direct competitor.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/KYBloodCenter
• YouTubeyoutube.com/c/kybloodcenter
• Facebookfacebook.com/kybloodcenter
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/kentucky-blood-center
• Instagraminstagram.com/kybloodcenter/?hl=en
• TikToktiktok.com/@kybloodcenter

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Kentucky Blood Center