Triple Point Supports Pelican Capital’s Investment in Steplab with Debt Facility

WHY THIS MATTERS

The origination of a senior debt facility by Triple Point to support Pelican Capital’s investment into Steplab, announced on May 26, 2026, underscores a massive surge in private credit appetite for niche, cash-generative Educational Technology (EdTech) platforms. The UK education sector is facing structural headwinds: tightening school budgets, an acute teacher retention crisis, and the prohibitive costs of hiring external, short-term training consultants.

Steplab addresses these friction points by providing an institutional “instructional coaching” and professional development platform that allows schools and multi-academy trusts (MATs) to design and execute evidence-based teacher training at scale. Serving more than 2,900 schools both natively in the UK and across international corridors, Steplab effectively embeds itself into a school’s operational workflow. From a private credit underwriting perspective, this generates highly defensive financial metrics: exceptionally low subscriber churn, clear pricing predictability, and high annual recurring revenue (ARR) visibility. By providing tailored leverage, Triple Point allows lower mid-market private equity specialist Pelican Capital to back the existing management team and fund an aggressive, programmatic buy-and-build strategy to consolidate fragmented software players across the global EdTech landscape.

Triple Point, the innovative investment manager specialising in private markets, has originated a senior debt facility to support Pelican Capital’s backing of Steplab, a high-growth UK-based platform for schools. The platform provides instructional coaching and professional development to help schools improve teaching outcomes. 

Founded to transform how teachers develop their practice, Steplab provides instructional coaching and professional development that enables schools to deliver structured, evidence-based coaching at scale. Serving more than 2,900 schools across the UK and internationally, the platform helps reduce reliance on external consultants while improving visibility and consistency across teaching and leadership teams. 

The financing supports Pelican Capital’s investment in the business, backing the existing management team and providing capital to continue scaling the platform organically and through selective acquisitions. 

Dominic Reason, Head of SME Debt Finance Private Credit at Triple Point, said:

“Steplab is a high-quality business with a clear purpose, helping improve teaching and professional development across schools at scale. It also has the robust financial qualities we look for, including strong recurring revenues, excellent retention and a product deeply embedded in its customers’ workflows. James Lowe led the transaction for Triple Point, working closely with Pelican Capital and the Steplab management team to deliver a financing solution that supports the next phase of growth. We’re pleased to continue building our relationship with Pelican and congratulate everyone involved in delivering a great outcome.” 

Pelican Capital is a UK lower mid-market private equity investor specialising in B2B technology and tech-enabled services. The transaction builds on its established relationship with Triple Point, following previous financings including Atech and Capacitas, and reflects a shared focus on supporting high-quality, technology-led businesses through tailored debt solutions. 

Troy Harris-Speid, Partner at Pelican Capital, said:

“Steplab has developed a highly differentiated platform with a compelling value proposition for schools and academy trusts. The business is well positioned to continue scaling in the UK and internationally, supported by strong fundamentals and a clear growth strategy. In transactions like this, certainty of funding and a clear understanding of recurring revenue businesses are essential. Triple Point brought both, alongside a pragmatic and collaborative approach. We’re pleased to be working with them again.” 

This transaction further demonstrates Triple Point’s focus on facilitating tailored private credit solutions to sponsor‑backed, founder‑led and growth‑oriented businesses, combining disciplined underwriting with flexibility and pace.

FF NEWS TAKE

Triple Point and Pelican Capital are executing a highly repeatable mid-market financing playbook built on a foundation of mutual execution certainty. This transaction marks the third major corporate collaboration between the private credit manager and Pelican Capital, following successful structured financings for cloud optimization consultancy Capacitas and managed IT provider Atech.

Under the leadership of Dominic Reason, Head of SME Debt Finance Private Credit, Triple Point is positioning itself as the preferred alternative to traditional commercial banks for sponsor-backed, asset-light tech transactions. In the current high-rate macro climate, traditional clearing banks are increasingly hesitant to extend senior leverage against pure software cash flows without heavy physical collateral. Triple Point’s specialized unit, led on this transaction by James Lowe, bypasses this hesitation by treating high client retention and deep workflow integration as valid financial security. For Pelican Capital Partner Troy Harris-Speid, this funding execution velocity is critical; by locking in a pragmatic, non-dilutive debt structure, Pelican can immediately scale Steplab’s technical resources and product capabilities without waiting on slow, bureaucratic credit committees, establishing an unshakeable moat around the UK’s digitizing public and private educational networks.

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