LEYTON joins the french campaign for the 38th America’s Cup as Official Supplier
Already an Official Partner of the France SailGP Team, Leyton is taking a further step by also becoming a partner of La Roche-Posay Racing Team for its 38th America’s Cup campaign. Through this new commitment, the Group will support the French Challenger competing in the event through to Naples in 2027. The partnership makes the America’s Cup a natural platform for Leyton, bringing together technological innovation, team performance and the international profile of French expertise.
This new agreement strengthens a partnership that has gone beyond traditional sports sponsorship from the outset.
The leading consultancy in innovation funding and organisational performance already supports K-Challenge in developing its projects and research and development activities. The relationship has gradually expanded to cover K-Challenge’s various programmes, from elite sailing to training the next generation and decarbonising maritime transport.
THE AMERICA’S CUP, A FULL-SCALE LABORATORY FOR INNOVATION
For 175 years, the America’s Cup has held a unique place in the history of international sport.
Far beyond sporting competition, it provides a laboratory where naval architecture, hydrodynamics, aerodynamics, digital simulation, artificial intelligence, electronics, materials, data and human performance come together.
At every stage, engineers, technicians and athletes work together towards the same goal: turning innovation into competitive advantage.
This philosophy has particular resonance for Leyton.
Advising businesses on their innovation projects, identifying ways to accelerate them, bringing together different areas of expertise and turning an idea into tangible performance are at the heart of its work.
Through the America’s Cup, Leyton is therefore aligning itself with a full-scale demonstration of this culture of innovation applied to performance at the highest level.
A FRENCH COMPANY SUPPORTING THE FRENCH TEAM
The partnership also has particular significance for Leyton. The French international group is supporting K-Challenge and La Roche-Posay Racing Team in a venture that brings French expertise to one of the most prestigious international stages for sport and technology.
From Lorient to Naples, K-Challenge is bringing together sailors, engineers, technicians and experts from a wide range of disciplines around this project, with the ambition of taking the French team to the highest level.
For Leyton, this partnership conveys a message that extends beyond sport: that France can create businesses, innovate, unite its talent and make its mark internationally.
David PARRA, Deputy CEO of the Leyton Group: “Our relationship with K-Challenge has been built around a shared conviction: innovation only has value when it delivers performance. The America’s Cup is probably one of the most spectacular illustrations of this. Behind the sporting performance lies an extraordinary human, technological and entrepreneurial endeavour, where every detail matters and the leading experts in their fields must work together towards a common goal. We are delighted to support K-Challenge and La Roche-Posay Racing Team in this international campaign. Supporting a French team that brings the excellence of its sailors, engineers and technologies to this level has particular significance for Leyton.
“Beyond everything we have in common, there is also an exceptional sporting challenge: a French team setting out to win the America’s Cup. We are proud that Leyton can be by its side.
“This is a natural next step in the story we are building together, and one that we now want all our stakeholders to experience fully through to Naples in 2027.”
MUCH MORE THAN A PARTNERSHIP FOR BRAND EXPOSURE
Leyton’s involvement in the America’s Cup is also intended to become a valuable means of building relationships, bringing people together and developing its business.
Throughout the campaign, clients, prospective clients and partners will be able to take part in key events and gain an inside view of an environment whose challenges directly reflect those of the business: continuous innovation, transformation, teamwork, data management, decision-making, rapid adaptation and the pursuit of performance.
Through training sessions and competitions, Leyton builds close relationships with its stakeholders, working on the ground alongside its clients, partners and teams. The 38th America’s Cup will offer a unique setting for these encounters, both on the water and ashore. Throughout the campaign, partners and employees will be involved in La Roche-Posay Racing Team’s key moments and gain an inside view of an environment whose challenges directly reflect those of the business: continuous innovation, teamwork, data management, rapid decision-making and the pursuit of performance.
Visits to the base in Naples, meetings with K-Challenge’s sailors, engineers and experts, discussions about innovation and experiences on the water will provide special opportunities to bring decision-makers and entrepreneurs together around shared challenges, and to highlight the role of engineering, technology and collective intelligence in the success of an ambitious project. Taking place in Naples in 2027, the America’s Cup gives Leyton a platform for partnership activities that aligns with its development in Italy, where the Group has enjoyed sustained growth for several years. With a presence in 20 countries, Leyton will also draw on the event’s global reach to bring together clients, business leaders, partners and employees from its different markets around a shared venture, combining French roots with an international presence.
Stephan Kandler, CEO of K-Challenge: “What we are building with Leyton goes well beyond a partnership for brand exposure. Leyton knows our project, our teams and how we work. They support our innovation, understand the demands of sport at the highest level and share our desire to make sailing a platform for technology, entrepreneurship and passing on knowledge.
“The America’s Cup is, of course, K-Challenge’s main sporting goal, but it is also an extremely demanding business undertaking. It requires bringing together the best talent, combining very different areas of expertise, innovating continuously, making the right decisions quickly and turning all of that into performance on the water. That is precisely why having Leyton alongside us makes so much sense.
“We are delighted to take this next step together and to make this campaign a sporting, technological and human adventure, as well as a powerful experience to share with their clients, partners and employees.”
SETTING COURSE FOR NAPLES
La Roche-Posay Racing Team’s next major event will take place in Naples in a few days’ time, from 24 to 27 September, at the preliminary regatta of the 38th America’s Cup.
Aboard the AC40s, the Challengers will once again face the Defender, Emirates Team New Zealand, on the waters that will host the competition’s major events in 2027.
La Roche-Posay Racing Team will then continue its preparations from its Naples base, with its sights set on the Louis Vuitton Cup and the ambition of becoming the Challenger that faces the Defender in the 38th America’s Cup Match.
For both K-Challenge and Leyton, a new chapter now begins with the same guiding principle: turning innovation into performance.
