MMProcess : “Innovation guides us”

Founded in 2019 by Madeg Ciret-Le Cosquer and Morgane Suquart, the naval architecture and composite prototyping agency MMProcess—notably responsible for the foiling trimaran that carried the famous metallic horse during the Paris 2024 Olympic opening ceremony—now relies on a team of eight people (engineers and composite technicians) with a turnover of approximately one million euros. Its two founders share the story of this Morbihan-based company.

How was the MMProcess agency born ?

Madeg Ciret-Le Cosquer: We met in merchant navy prep school; we both became officers—I sailed long-haul, and Morgane worked on ferries. Alongside this, we did quite a bit of racing; we notably finished third in the first-ever 470 Mixed World Championships in 2013. Most importantly, we took up foiling Moths, which led us to perform more and more modifications and composite work to improve the boat. This sparked our interest in the boat as a development machine. We later had the opportunity to transition from the merchant navy to companies involved in development within the nautical and offshore racing sectors: Morgane managed the design office at Nodus Factory, and on my side, I worked successively for Lorima, Heol Composites, Groupama Team France, and SeAir. With these experiences, we then wanted to develop our own projects. We enrolled in a Master’s in Naval Architecture in Nantes and decided in 2019 to launch our own naval architecture and composite prototyping agency, there was no structure of this type that combined design with the ability to build foils, create models, and test them rapidly on the water. At the time, the ENV (French National Sailing and Water Sports School in Quiberon, which recently became the National Institute of Yachting) was preparing to launch a business incubator for foiling craft; we responded to the call for projects to set up shop there. 

What were the first projects you worked on ?

Morgane Suquart: Our first project was a flying electric jet-ski. It was the early days of electric power, so we encountered many difficulties, but it encouraged us to continue developing both foilers and electric boats. This was partly with a goal of decarbonizing the nautical world—a subject close to our hearts—but also because, from the start, innovation is what guides us: we love testing new technological building blocks available on the market. Electric motors have been a significant field of exploration for us, as has recycled carbon.

Madeg Ciret-Le Cosquer: We also became specialists in board sports, handling both the design and prototyping of appendages for Takoon and Gong. We have always had our own simulator to maintain total independence regarding our tools, but working in board sports allowed us to generate a lot of feedback on what we were testing. Today, thousands of people sail with our designs—we really enjoy that! We also worked on Matéo Lavauzelle’s foiling Mini 6.50, which was a bit of a childhood dream for me; you can’t really call yourself a naval architect in the offshore racing sector if you haven’t designed a Mini!  

You were revealed by the trimaran supporting the metallic horse during the Olympic opening ceremony. How did this project come about, and has there been an Olympic effect for MMProcess ?

Morgane Suquart: Initially, it was an idea by Thomas Jolly (artistic director of the opening ceremony) that had been set aside because it was too difficult to achieve. Atelier Blam, who created the Olympic cauldron and whom we had known since our Master’s in Nantes, told us about it. We decided together to prove it was possible. We developed several digital models using our simulator—which we streamlined to present visuals that resonated well with our audience—allowing us to realize this project that we truly loved, as it was an opportunity to use technical skill for a purely aesthetic purpose. Following that, there was a massive effect, with a lot of media interest and conferences, both in France and abroad, which opened many doors for us, particularly for larger-scale projects.

What are the main projects you are working on today ?

Morgane Suquart and Madeg Ciret-Le Cosquer: The project that serves as our guiding thread today is Askell 66+, which aims to break Paul Larsen’s absolute sailing speed record (65.45 knots in 2011) by 2027/2028. It uses a unique machine equipped with skates, a foil, and a sail designed to adapt to the increase in apparent wind. We are seeking funding to the tune of 3 million euros, with an initial ticket of 300,000 euros to officially launch a testing and development phase for a scale model. It is both a sporting dream and a vision for the company, as this project feeds into others—like our sailing ferry with automated wings (we developed our own rigs for sail-powered commercial shipping) or the ZEF-C, a flying electric foiling catamaran for pilot stations. We are also working in the racing world: we are already building appendages for Team Ultim Actual—we have a fairly integrated way of working with them—and we want to develop this activity further. Hence our ambition to launch a larger composite workshop in the Auray region. We also designed an IMOCA project for Philippe Hartz and would like to do the same for an Ocean Fifty, a boat we know well, having managed the construction oversight for Sébastien Rogues’ boat.