Overview
His pre-Shayp work included Stylicist, a smart wardrobe assistant that suggested outfit options from a user's clothing behaviour. Shayp began with Alexandre McCormack researching leak detection technology in 2016. McCormack, an architecture and civil engineering graduate of ULB who had been an energy manager for Brussels, was chief executive; de Hemptinne was chief operating officer and Wakrim chief technology officer.
Grégoire de Hemptinne is co-founder and chief executive of Shayp, a Brussels water technology company started in October 2017 with Alexandre McCormack and Zineddine Wakrim. McCormack was chief executive at the company's 2020 funding round, and de Hemptinne held the chief operating officer role, which he still carried in January 2024. He holds a master's degree in computer science and engineering and an MBA from IESE Business School, class of 2017, and describes 15 years of experience building data-driven solutions. Before Shayp he worked on Stylicist, a wardrobe assistant that recommended outfits based on how people wore their clothes. Shayp fits non-invasive dataloggers to existing water meters and runs the readings through anomaly detection to flag leaks and plumbing faults. The product line covers the 2ZERO software, the POLY4 hardware and 4IMPACT smart water financing, with devices assembled in Poperinge. The company reports deployment in more than 9,000 buildings and an average 22 percent reduction in water use. It raised 1.9 million euros in December 2020 from Signa Innovations, AMAVI Capital and finance&invest.brussels. In October 2025 de Hemptinne received IESE's 40under40 award as the entrepreneur with the most social impact.
Career history
Media & appearances
- ABN AMRO BelgiumYouTubeGrégoire de Hemptinne (Shayp) over het belang van waterbeheer in professioneel vastgoedGregoire De Hemptinne discusses how while individuals can reduce water consumption through shorter showers or fewer baths, these personal efforts are marginal compared to the water losses that occur in large buildings that are sometimes difficult to maintain because anomalies go undetected.
- ABN AMRO BelgiumYouTubeGrégoire de Hemptinne (Shayp), une start-up innovante spécialisée dans la détection des fuitesGregoire De Hemptinne explains that Shayp helps companies reduce water consumption in their buildings through technology, artificial intelligence, and water consumption education.
- ABN AMRO BelgiumYouTubeGrégoire de Hemptinne over Shayp, een innovatieve start-up gericht op waterlekdetectieGrégoire de Hemptinne discusses that Shayp helps companies reduce water consumption in their buildings through technology and artificial intelligence, combined with educating users about water consumption.
In the news
- Will the European Union finally address water leakage ⁉️💦 Yesterday, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, stated: " European pipes lose almost one in every four litres. Mostly through leakage. What a waste. So we will put forward a new European Water initiative. Because water is precious. " Water is indeed precious ... it's an understatement !! For people, for businesses for nature ... The problem is, it's still priced as if it were abundant. And most of that waste never shows up on a bill. It just
- I've done countless speeches on stage, but I still get a little nervous every time. Anyone else? I was giving yet another one at PropTech Connect and could talk about the invisible pain that water causes in buildings. We're protecting buildings at Shayp, but more importantly we're saving water: something I care about deeply, especially for next generations' future. So every time I talk about it, I want to get it right. I had some fantastic conversations at the event Huge thanks to my colleagues Benja Raice Felho, Artemy Voroshilov,
- Our economy runs on water, and the Rhine just proved exactly how much. On August 17, 2026, the gauge at Kaub, the river's shallowest choke point, read 5 cm. Twenty below the previous record, set in 2018. A normal summer reading there sits around 225 cm. ❓What the numbers mean: The gauge measures water level against a fixed historical reference point, not the riverbed. What it does capture precisely is the trend and the threshold that actually matters for shipping. Somewhere around the 40 cm mark, loaded cargo barges stop being
- 30+ billion litres saved: what AI water monitoring looks like for building portfolios. That's what I'll be unpacking on stage at PropTech Connect Europe. We'll get into how real-time consumption data, asset by asset across a portfolio, changes what's possible for asset managers and sustainability leads, and what it actually takes to get there. 🗓️ September 9th, 2:30 PM 📍 Innovation Stage, 1st floor InterContinental London - The O2 Can't make the session? Reach out and let's grab time during the event instead. I'll be there with
- Somewhere in Germany 🇩🇪, Austria 🇦🇹 and Switzerland 🇨🇭, millions of liters of water 💦 are being wasted right now. I want to find the person who's going to stop that. At Shayp, we've already helped save over 31 billion liters of water across Europe. And honestly, we're just getting started — we're growing faster than ever, and now it's time to go all-in on DACH. That's why I'm hiring a Business Developer, DACH Region to lead our expansion into Germany, Austria and Switzerland. This is a true builder role: half hunting, half
- will we run out of water? 💦🧐 In the light of the extreme weather conditions we experienced in Europe this summer, it's our social responsibility to take care of our precious resources ... starting with water 💦
- Proud to contribute to new innovating business models that help datacenter companies to replenish the water they withdraw with additional social impact!
- Europe funds a lot of great water research 🔬. Most of it never makes it past a pilot.😵💫 We contributed to a paper on that exact problem, co-written with The European Water Tech Accelerator, for their response to the EU's Call for Evidence on the Water Resilience Research and Innovation Strategy. In short: a push toward EU policymakers to put real support and regulation behind water innovation, not just research funding. Europe funds a lot of great water research, but too much of it never makes it past a pilot. The paper
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