BOSTON, January 21, 2026 — Seacoast Capital (“Seacoast”), a lower-middle market non-control growth capital investor, announced today its recent investment in Stellar Education (“Stellar”), in support of Stellar’s recent acquisition of a Massachusetts-based operator of early childhood education centers.

Stellar is a platform established by ECY Partners (“ECY”) to acquire and develop early childhood education centers in the Northeast. Stellar acquired an operator of early childhood education centers for children ages 6 months to 5 years old located in Massachusetts. The company offers education-based care for infants through pre-K, as well as summer enrichment programs for elementary school-aged children.

Seacoast provided a combination of unitranche debt and an equity co-invest to support Stellar’s recapitalization of the company, facilitating liquidity for the company’s founding shareholders.

Maggie Prager, Founder of ECY, commented “The launch of Stellar Education reinforces ECY’s commitment to supporting the increase of women in the workforce, by fostering growth in critical industries such as early education,” adding “the alignment and partnership surrounding this first acquisition sets the stage for continued access to high quality early education in the Northeast.”

David Romagnoli, a Partner at Seacoast, added “We have been closely following the early childhood educator sector for years, drawn to its resilient demand drivers and meaningful societal impact,” further noting “In ECY and Stellar, we found the right combination of scale, systems, and expertise to support sustainable growth while maintaining the highest standards of care and education throughout the Northeast.”

Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

About Stellar

Stellar is a platform established to acquire and develop early childhood education centers for children ages 6 months to 5 years old – primarily in the Northeast. Stellar consummated its formative acquisition of a multi-location chain of early childhood education centers in Massachusetts in 2026.

About ECY Partners

ECY Partners is a private equity firm focused on lower-middle market consumer and business services companies. ECY takes a thematic approach to partnering with growth-oriented founders and management teams to achieve optimal and sustainable outcomes. The firm focuses on fundamental trends, including the increase of women in the workforce, convenience, wellness and modernization, tech-enablement in traditional industries, and specialization and outsourcing. ECY invests alongside owners and management teams in companies with $10 million or more in revenue. Learn more by visiting www.ecypartners.com.

About Seacoast Capital

Founded in 1994, with offices in Boston, MA and San Francisco, CA, Seacoast Capital invests non-controlling capital in partnership with management in lower middle market private companies. Seacoast is industry agnostic and typically invests $5 million to $30 million of capital in companies with $10 million or more in revenue and $2 million or more of EBITDA. Capital is used to support growth, refinancings, acquisitions, family ownership and wealth transfers, shareholder liquidity events, and partnership or management buyouts. Geographically, Seacoast invests anywhere in the United States. Since its inception, Seacoast has managed over $1B of capital, which the firm has invested in 90+ transactions. Now managing its fifth fund, Seacoast continues to actively seek new investment opportunities. Learn more by visiting www.seacoastcapital.com.