# Michael Black

> Michael Black is a Series A investor in Stuttgart backing Computer Vision and 3D Technology. See 5 investments, check sizes, portfolio. Updated Aug 2026.

- Type: Angel Investor
- Location: Stuttgart, Germany
- Total investments: 5
- Last investment: Nov 2021
- Lead investor: 0%
- Last updated: Aug 2026
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-j-black-41751114/?originalSubdomain=de
- X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/Michael_J_Black
- Website: https://ps.is.mpg.de/person/black
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/perceivingsystems

Michael Black is a Series A investor in Stuttgart focused on Computer Vision and 3D Technology. Michael Black received his B.Sc. from the University of British Columbia (1985), his M.S. from Stanford (1989), and his Ph.D. from Yale University (1992). He has held positions at the University of Toronto, Xerox PARC, and Brown University. He is an Honorarprofessor at the University of Tuebingen and one of the founding directors at the Max PlanckInstitute for Intelligent Systems in Tübingen, Germany, where he leads the Perceiving Systems department. He was a Distinguished Amazon Scholar (VP, 2017-2021). His work has won several awards including the IEEE Computer Society Outstanding Paper Award (1991), Honorable Mention for the Marr Prize (1999 and 2005), the 2010 Koenderink Prize, the 2013 Helmholtz Prize, and the 2020 Longuet-Higgins Prize. He is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. In 2013 he co-founded Body Labs Inc., which was acquired by Amazon in 2017.

## Round sizes

| Stage | Round size |
| --- | --- |
| Series A | $11M–$19M |

## Investment focus

### Industry

| Industry | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Computer Vision | 3 | 60% |
| 3D Technology | 2 | 40% |
| Machine Learning | 2 | 40% |
| Artificial Intelligence | 2 | 40% |
| Software | 1 | 20% |

7 industries tracked in total.

### Stage

| Stage | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Series A | 2 | 40% |
| Seed | 1 | 20% |
| Angel | 1 | 20% |
| Pre-Seed | 1 | 20% |

### Country

| Country | Investments | Share |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Israel | 1 | 20% |
| Germany | 1 | 20% |
| United States | 1 | 20% |

## Investments

| Company | Description | Amount | Stage | Date | Website |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Meshcapade | Meshcapade (Germany) is revolutionizing the world of human body modeling, sizing, and animation. Meshcapade employs a state of the art statistical model of body shape that encodes realistic shapes, sizes, and motions. We make animating, simulating, and recognizing human bodies effortless, and to bring realistic virtual humans into simulation and3D environments. |  | Angel | Nov 28, 2021 |  |
| Datagen Technologies | Datagen Technologies develops simulated data technology to be scalable, bias-free, and automatically annotated. It was founded in 2018 and is based in Tel Aviv, Israel. | $18.5M | Series A | Feb 15, 2021 |  |
| Meshcapade | Meshcapade (Germany) is revolutionizing the world of human body modeling, sizing, and animation. Meshcapade employs a state of the art statistical model of body shape that encodes realistic shapes, sizes, and motions. We make animating, simulating, and recognizing human bodies effortless, and to bring realistic virtual humans into simulation and3D environments. |  | Pre-Seed | Nov 21, 2018 |  |
| Body Labs | Body Labs is a horizontal solution provider of human-aware AI that understands the way we move and how we’re shaped to make our world more personal. The company is comprised of the best in artificial intelligence, computer vision, and body modeling. It aims to deliver human-aware AI as the next digital platform to empower the capture and use of 3Dbody motion and shape for numerous industries.It was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in New York, New York. | $11M | Series A | Nov 03, 2015 |  |
| Body Labs | Body Labs is a horizontal solution provider of human-aware AI that understands the way we move and how we’re shaped to make our world more personal. The company is comprised of the best in artificial intelligence, computer vision, and body modeling. It aims to deliver human-aware AI as the next digital platform to empower the capture and use of 3Dbody motion and shape for numerous industries.It was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in New York, New York. | $2.2M | Seed | Nov 13, 2014 |  |

5 of 5 investments shown.

## Co-investors
- [Catalus Capital](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/catalus-capital) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [FirstMark](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/firstmark-capital) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Matias Ventures](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/matias-ventures) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Max Planck Innovation](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/max-planck-innovation) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [New York Angels](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/new-york-angels) — VC Fund, 1 deal together
- [Operator Partners](https://shizune.co/investors/profile/operator-partners) — VC Fund, 1 deal together

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## FAQ

### What does Michael Black invest in?

Michael Black invests primarily in Computer Vision, 3D Technology and Machine Learning startups, most often at Series A and Seed stage. Most of the 5 investments tracked by Shizune back companies in Israel. The Investment Focus section breaks down every industry, stage and country in the portfolio.

### What is Michael Black's check size?

Michael Black typically joins rounds of $11M–$19M at Series A. These ranges are 10th–90th percentile round sizes calculated from confirmed public funding rounds, so they are a realistic guide to the rounds Michael Black participates in.

### When did Michael Black last invest?

The most recent investment recorded for Michael Black closed in Nov 2021. Shizune tracks 5 investments in total for this profile, including round sizes, stages and portfolio companies, all sourced from confirmed public funding rounds and refreshed monthly.

### Is Shizune's investor data accurate?

Yes — every stat on this profile is calculated from confirmed public funding rounds monitored across hundreds of sources since 2020. This profile was last refreshed in Aug 2026 and is updated monthly. Spotted something off? Use the “Suggest an edit” link near the top of the page.

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