ClientsFootprintNowWhat we doWorkTrack recordDomainsHow we workSpeakingStoryPressTeam
Germany · USA · Taiwan · Since 2011

Deep tech needs a supply chain. Taiwan is where you get one.

An investor who builds. Fifteen years inside Taiwan's semiconductor and hardware supply chain, from foundry and packaging to displays, boards and final build.

Named after Yushan 玉山, Taiwan's highest peak
$20M
Strategic round secured for a portfolio company, with a Foxconn alliance and a board seat
25+
Companies we scouted for clients that were later acquired or listed, including by Apple, NVIDIA, Tesla and Microsoft
$100M
Deep-tech fund we advised as venture partner (fully realized after seven years)
15
Countries where we have done the work, since 2011
Our focus · Supply chain & semiconductors

From silicon to shipped hardware, through Taiwan.

Most of the world's advanced chips and a deep bench of display, board and assembly houses sit on one island. We know it layer by layer, and we know which houses will take a first order from a foreign team.

01

Silicon

Foundry and design-house strategy: dual-foundry questions, node selection, and where capacity is actually constrained.

02

Displays & optics

Display technology strategy for automotive, and scouting across MicroLED, light-field and holographic optics.

03

Components & boards

Bill-of-materials review against real Taiwan capability: where the island is deep, where it is thin, and what has to come from elsewhere.

04

Build & ramp

Qualifying the houses that will quote low volume, then staying with you through quoting, first article and ramp.

Trusted by

Who we work for.

Automotive OEMs, industrial manufacturers and consumer brands. Some engagements run a few weeks. Several have run for years.

Volkswagen Group
Audi
Continental
ABB Robotics
Siemens
Infineon Technologies
Rebellions
Google
Microsoft
ZEISS
Coca-Cola
Siam Cement Group
Chanwanich
HeidelbergCement
Lite-On
IBM
Aumovio
NiSource
Gogoro
Indigo Technologies
StradVision
Uno Minda
Trans Pacific Technology Fund
Foundamental
APEC
United Nations
GSMA
MDEC — Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation
Cradle
Fund
Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan

Also engaged: AcBel, VIA Technologies and MobileMonday Taipei. The Infineon and Rebellions engagements were delivered through Mosaic Venture Lab, Yushan's deep-tech venture arm.

Global footprint

Where we've worked.

Fifteen countries where we have run scouting, strategy or investment work. Tap or hover a marker to see what we did there.

Country where we've scouted, advised, or invested
Engagement hub — tap or hover for the work
Audi senior management at NASA for the demo day
On the ground
15 countries across Asia, Europe, the Americas and Israel.
Audi senior management at NASA, demo day.
Now

What we're working on.

Active engagements on both sides of the Pacific — scouting, market research, and business development.

Active · Technology Strategy

Display-technology strategy — European automotive supplier

Value-chain mapping and a partner shortlist for an R&D decision.

Active · Business Development

Carbonix Materials — US Entry

Business development for the advanced-materials startup: US market-entry strategy and warm customer introductions across our corporate network.

2025 · Delivered

Best-Cost-Country Scouting — India

RFQ development and best-cost-country supplier scouting in India — from crafting the RFQ through supplier evaluation and selection.

What we do

What we do.

Selected work

Selected work.

AudiDeep-Tech Scouting
Taiwan · Europe · US · Asia · 2019

4D printing — research field to four funded options

Turned a technology with 90 patents worldwide into four costed concepts on a three-gate investment path, with a dedicated technical team in Taiwan and an eleven-professor expert network.

AudiScouting · Roadshow
Japan · Korea · China · Israel · USA · Taiwan

Multi-market scouting & Brain-Wave project

Six-country technology scouting for Audi, including the Brain-Wave Scouting project to identify wireless brain-wave sensing for the vehicle — plus executive roadshows.

ABBScouting · Roadshow
Japan · 2018

Vision tech for the YuMi robot

Scouted visualization and machine-vision technologies in Japan for ABB Robotics' YuMi collaborative robot, and ran the executive roadshow.

RebellionsSupply Chain · AI Silicon
Korea · Taiwan · 2023–2024

Taiwan foundry strategy for an AI-chip company

Foundry and design-house strategy for Rebellions — the dual-foundry question, capacity constraints, node selection, and access at low volume.

Indigo TechnologiesInvestment · Alliance
USA · Taiwan · $20M

$20M strategic investment and a Foxconn alliance

A $20 million strategic investment to scale manufacturing and distribution, a Foxconn strategic alliance, and Foxconn's EV Chief Strategy Officer on the board.

Siam Cement GroupScouting
Thailand

High-temperature kiln sensors

Scouted high-sensitivity, high-temperature sensor technologies for Siam Cement Group's kiln tunnels.

Trans Pacific Technology FundVenture Partner
USD 100M · Cross-Pacific

Former venture partner to a $100M fund

Served as venture partner sourcing and evaluating deep-tech deals for the Trans Pacific Technology Fund (USD 100M) across the Pacific. The fund was fully realized after seven years.

Track record

We spot them early.

Companies our scouting put in front of clients like Audi and the Volkswagen Group, years before their exits, listings and big rounds. The outcomes are theirs. Finding them first is our job.

Hands-on work

Taiwan · glasses-free 3D displays

We ran the roadshow that led to a proof of concept with Volkswagen.

Japan · inkjet-printed circuit boards

We introduced the team to Porsche procurement, Audi, BMW and other German carmakers.

Taiwan · retinal-projection glasses

Retainer through the pandemic: business development and financial forecasting.

Scouted, then

Scouted for client programmes between 2015 and 2019. Outcomes are public company events, each checked against a published source. We do not claim credit for them.

Domains

Where we go deep.

Four technology areas we know at the level where the cost and the risk actually sit — the process step, the component, the qualification gate. Not industry verticals.

01 · Semiconductors & displays

Compound semiconductor supply chains

Wafer to pixel — epitaxy, chip, transfer, backplane, driver — and which step decides whether a programme is affordable.

GaN & GaN-on-Si epitaxyMicroLED & mass transferDriver ICs & AEC-grade ASICsBackplanes: LTPS, passive matrix, µCMOSQuantum-dot colour conversion
02 · AI & robotics

Machine intelligence in moving machines

We screened Japan's AI and robotics ecosystem for ABB Robotics — edge inference silicon, perception, reinforcement learning for motion — and wrote a technical dossier on every company that survived.

Edge inference siliconPerception & sensor fusionReinforcement learning for motionMachine vision & 3D metrologyCloud robotics & fleet tooling
03 · Optics, photonics & sensing

Light engines and hard-environment sensing

Microoptics, diffractive and holographic elements, and the light engines behind head-up displays — plus sensing that survives an industrial environment. We took ZEISS Microoptics through automotive series-production readiness.

Diffractive & holographic opticsHUD and panoramic-HUD light enginesRadar & lidarHigh-temperature industrial sensingSilicon photonics
04 · Advanced materials & manufacturing

Materials that do something, and the base that builds them

Smart materials, additive manufacturing, and the suppliers who can make them at price. We ran Audi's 4D printing project from a bare research field to four costed concepts on a gated investment path.

Additive & 4D printingAuxetic structures & metamaterialsShape-memory polymers & textilesAdvanced & carbon materialsInterior surfaces & shy tech

These are named domains, not a menu. When a question falls outside them we say so, and point you to someone better placed.

How we work

Evidence you can take to a board.

Industrial clients do not need another confident deck. They need to know which numbers survive scrutiny and which ones do not — so we label them. Behind every engagement is our own scouting engine: it screens public sources continuously, so our people spend their time on the calls and visits that decide the answer.

✓ VERIFIED  ·  ◆ ESTIMATE  ·  SUPPLIER-STATED

Every figure carries its provenance.

Every chart is badged on its face: verified against a primary source, our own triangulation, or a vendor's claim recorded but unconfirmed. Where no honest figure exists we show a placeholder and say so.

Primary research, on the record.

Named expert interviews, supplier calls and trade-floor intelligence — a principal display engineer answering six written questions, a driver-IC house telling us the architecture everyone assumes is uneconomic at automotive screen size. Not a literature review with a logo on it.

Models you can edit.

Partner scorecards ship as working spreadsheets: weighted criteria, editable weights, ranking re-sorts when you change them. You get the model and the evidence tab behind every score, not just our conclusion.

A range when the answer is a range.

The biggest uncertainty in a business case is shown as a band, not a number. On one recent question the analyst view and the leading supplier's view were twofold apart. We published both, and named which decisions were safe inside either.

Speaking & thought leadership

Where we speak.

Keynotes, moderation and judging at GMIC, GSMA Open Days, Mobile World Congress and APEC summits.

2026

Tech Scouting in the Age of AI Agents

Startup Island TAIWAN — Silicon Valley Hub · with Deeli AI
Panel
2026

French Tech Taiwan Fireside Chat

Business France × InFocus · Taipei
Fireside
2025

Taiwan Landing & Launch

Taipei Computer Association (TCA)
Keynote
2025

CES Global Accelerator Bootcamp

Taiwan Tech Arena (TTA) · Taipei
Keynote
2025

DATE Summit — “From Connection to Collaboration”

Business Today · Taipei
Speaker
2025

Canada–Taiwan CEO Forum & Roundtable

Canadian Trade Office · Taipei
Speaker
2024

Mobileheroes Global Award Ceremony

ITRI · Taipei
Fireside
2024

IC Taiwan Forum @ COMPUTEX InnoVEX

Taiwan Tech Arena · Taipei
Moderator

Twenty-seven speaking engagements on record since 2014 — full list on request.

GMIC Bangalore 2014 speaker lineup featuring Volker Heistermann, Managing Director of Yushan VenturesGlobal Mobile Internet Conference · Bangalore 2014 — featured speaker alongside InMobi, Kae Capital, Nazara & True Global Ventures
Also on stage and on the jury
Obama's Global Entrepreneurship SummitStartup WeekendMobileMonday TaipeiAudi Innovation Award
The story

How we got here.

Yushan built ecosystems, scouted technology for the world's largest industrial companies, advised venture funds, founded an accelerator — and the founder is back at the helm.

2011

Founded in Taipei — and lit the spark

Yushan Ventures established to bridge global innovation and Asia's ecosystems. Introduced Startup Weekend to Taiwan and ran the MobileMonday Taipei chapter. In these early years Yushan also made a handful of direct angel investments of its own capital into Taiwanese startups — most since wound down; Lucent Sky, a web-security company, remains.

Startup WeekendMobileMonday Taipei
2012–2018

Co-built the APEC O2O Accelerator

Conceived and co-built the APEC O2O accelerator with Taiwan's government — running startup programs around the world, from Nanjing to Lima.

APEC
2015

Volkswagen Group, Audi & Coca-Cola

Became technology scouting partner to the Volkswagen Group and Audi — and introduced ProLogium, the Taiwanese solid-state lithium-ceramic battery maker, to Audi. Ran a China scouting engagement for Coca-Cola; toured 10 cities with GSMA on "The Rise of Asia's Innovation Machines".

Volkswagen GroupAudiCoca-ColaGSMA
2015–2016

VC partner to Malaysia's Smart Investment Facilitation

Appointed VC partner to the Smart Investment Facilitation programme, run with MDEC and Cradle Fund. Opened with an Investor Readiness Workshop in Kuala Lumpur for twenty Malaysian startups, then coached the five with the strongest fundraising potential through to term sheets.

MDECCradle Fund
2018–2020

Venture partner & ABB / Siam Cement scouting

Venture partner to HeidelbergCement's Foundamental fund; scouted vision tech in Japan for ABB's YuMi robot and high-temperature sensors for Siam Cement. Founded Mosaic Venture Lab in 2019, powered by Audi AG and Taiwan's MoEA.

FoundamentalHeidelbergCementABBSiam Cement GroupMosaic Venture LabMinistry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan
2026

Yushan rebooted

With Mosaic running independently, the founder returns to Yushan full-time — scouting, investment advisory, and startup growth under one roof again.

News & press

Selected press.

Cover story in Taiwan's trade authority magazine, received at the Presidential Office, and on the record in the Wall Street Journal and TechCrunch.

Recent coverage
Volker Heistermann shaking hands with President Lai Ching-te at the Presidential Office, TaipeiWith President Lai Ching-te · Presidential Office, Taipei · 2024
Delegation group photo with President Lai Ching-te at the Presidential Office, TaipeiDelegation reception · Presidential Office, Taipei · 2024
Selected clippings

Earlier coverage in the Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, The Next Web, e27, AmCham Taiwan and INSIDE; recent podcast appearances on Startup Island TAIWAN, Startup DNA and Business Next.

Mosaic Venture Lab
Our spin-off

We founded Mosaic Venture Lab.

Created in 2019 as Yushan's deep-tech accelerator and hands-on VC in Taipei — powered by Audi AG and Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs — Mosaic Venture Lab grew into an integrated startup-support ecosystem with 20+ professionals. Today it operates independently.

Audi Innovation Award 2023 HackathonAudi Innovation Award 2023 Hackathon · “Women Driving the Future of Mobility” — powered by Audi & Mosaic Venture Lab, Taipei
Team

Who we are.

Seven people across Germany, the USA, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia: automotive engineers, semiconductor and display researchers, and venture investors.

Core team

Volker Heistermann

Founder & Managing Director · San Francisco

Founded Yushan in Taipei in 2011 after 15 years in Silicon Valley — Google, AT&T, and investment bank Rutberg & Co. Former venture partner to the Trans Pacific Technology Fund and Foundamental; founded Mosaic Venture Lab; judge at Obama's Global Entrepreneurship Summit.

Kyle Hu

Research Manager · Display Technology · Taiwan

Leads display-technology research for Yushan's strategy and market-research engagements, working across the Mosaic deep-tech network in Taiwan.

Haley Lin

Research Associate · Singapore

Supports Yushan's technology scouting and market-research engagements from Singapore, covering deep-tech companies and value chains across Southeast Asia.

Partners & advisors

Bruce Bateman

Partner · Semiconductor Research Lead · Taiwan

A serial entrepreneur and IoT specialist who has spent his career in technology companies including Dell and PictureTel, Bruce leads Yushan's semiconductor research and scouting with decades of cross-border operating experience across Asia's technology and manufacturing sectors.

Dr.-Ing. Volker Kaese

Independent Consultant · Germany

Automotive engineering leader with deep OEM experience. Works with Yushan on technology research, supplier programs, and innovation consulting for European automotive clients.

Ken Huang

Venture Partner · Malaysia

A venture capital investor based in Malaysia, Ken backs and scouts early-stage deep-tech founders and connects Yushan's portfolio and clients to capital and partners across Southeast Asia.

Melanie Edwards

Advisor · Stanford University · USA

Brings Stanford research and Silicon Valley networks to Yushan's strategy and market-research engagements.

Advisory Board

Senior advisors and institutional partners guiding our strategy across telecommunications, multilateral development, and automotive.

Axiata GroupTelecommunications · Southeast Asia
United NationsMultilateral development
AudiAutomotive · Mosaic partner
Contact

Tell us what you're looking for.

Scouting a technology, sourcing deals, or entering a new market — start with a conversation.