Fred Kranich is an entrepreneur and investor who divides his time between Vienna and Taipei. Prior to joining Yushan Ventures, Fred was with SEZ Group (SEZN, delisted in 2008), a leading supplier of processing equipment to the global Semiconductor Industry and (after its acquisition in 2008) a division of LAM Research (LRCX).
Joining in 2000, Fred played a key role in establishing and managing SEZ’s Hsin-Chu based Taiwan operations as its managing director, serving customers like TSMC and UMC through 4 service offices and a clean-room lab. After 2003, he served for 5 years as CFO & VP Asia-Pacific in Singapore as well as on the boards of SEZ’s regional subsidiaries and a Taiwan JV (Idealtech).
Prior to SEZ, Fred co-founded Mona GMBH, which started to serve European retailers with white label dairy brands. After 2001 Mona pioneered the development and production of soy foods in Europe. After leaving MONA in 1999, Fred remained 2nd largest shareholder and participated in a management buyout (100 % take over of the dairy) in 2005. Mona exited its dairy division in 2008 and acquired Sojaland of Germany in 2009. Fred remains a founding shareholder and serves on the board of MONA Group.
Fred holds a Master Degree in theoretical linguistics from the university of Vienna. He’s fluent in written and spoken Mandarin. His undergraduate studies included Chinese Language and Literature and Japanese at the University of Vienna and scholarships at Xiamen University and National Taiwan Normal University.