Two female founders. One DeepTech startup. A market where women lead less than 5% of ventures. Sophia Vögler and Valentina Nigg are among the few female founders in EV tech building ampway, a Munich-based AI software company that automates EV charging for fleets and depots.
The EV charging infrastructure market was valued at $31.69 billion in 2024 and is projected to grow to $199.77 billion by 2033. The founders shaping that market are overwhelmingly men. Sophia and Valentina are part of a small but fast-moving group changing that.
Engineering Meets Algorithms:
Both founders graduated from the Technical University of Munich, one of Europe’s most active DeepTech startup ecosystems. Their backgrounds are complementary and deliberate.
Sophia studied Mechanical Engineering at TUM. Her Master’s thesis focused specifically on optimization algorithms for the coordinated charging of multiple electric vehicles, using product development methods to explore how software can manage EV charging loads at scale. That research is essentially the technical foundation ampway is built on.
Valentina studied Industrial Engineering at TUM. She worked on algorithm design in academic research and contributed to projects at Porsche and Envidual, building the technical and commercial depth ampway runs on today.
Together they bring the skill pairing that hardware-heavy industries often miss: deep domain knowledge combined with software-first thinking.
What They Built and Why:
ampway’s AI load balancing software enables site operators to charge up to 6x more EVs on the same existing grid connection, with no hardware upgrades required. The system manages demand automatically across vehicles, integrates with on-site solar and battery storage, and shifts loads in real time when spot market prices fall or renewable surplus is available.
The insight behind the product connects directly to Sophia’s thesis research. The bottleneck is rarely the charger itself. It is the energy management layer, the part that coordinates when each vehicle draws power and how much. ampway builds exactly that layer.
Recognition from the Right Rooms:
The startup has moved steadily through credibility milestones. In 2023 it placed second at the Samsung Solve for Tomorrow competition at IFA Berlin. In early 2025 it ranked among the top 10 global startups at the MIT Climate and Energy Prize, at semifinals hosted at TUM Venture Labs. It secured an EXIST Founders Grant from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy in Q2 2025, followed by AI+Munich funding later that year.
In October 2025, Sophia received the Vinci Energies special prize at the Women Start-up Award in Munich, an UnternehmerTUM program specifically designed to give female founders in Bavaria more visibility and support. The award recognized ampway’s contribution to grid-friendly smart charging for electric vehicles.
By Q3 2025 the team was running a US Venture Program to test market access on the American side.
The Funding Gap They Navigate:
Female-only founding teams received just 2.3% of the $289 billion invested globally in venture capital in 2024. That figure has moved by fractions of a percent over several years. For founders building DeepTech energy software, the gap is even more pronounced.
Sophia and Valentina have built around that reality by anchoring credibility in grants, competition rankings, and ecosystem partnerships rather than depending on a funding pipeline that remains structurally tilted. The EXIST grant, the MIT prize shortlist, and the Vinci Energies recognition each represent third-party validation that travels across investor conversations.
Where Female Founders in EV Tech Go Next:
The Women Start-up Award that recognized Sophia in October 2025 reflects a broader shift. Programs designed for female founders in DeepTech and energy are expanding across Munich, Bavaria, and Germany, backed by institutions including TUM, UnternehmerTUM, and federal funding bodies. The support infrastructure for female founders in EV tech is meaningfully better in 2026 than it was five years ago.
For founders, operators, and investors following smart EV charging for fleets, ampway is a company worth tracking. Sophia and Valentina are building something technically grounded and commercially relevant, in a space that needs more founders who look like them.
