Ivan Rikard Mendel Kraus was born in 1880 in Osijek, Kingdom of Croatia-Slavonia, Austria-Hungary, the son of Bettina and Ivan Mendel Kraus. His father was the owner of a construction business in Osijek, and was responsible for erecting a number of buildings in his hometown, among which was the first steam-powered flour mill.
In 1905 he became one of the founders of the Croatian National Progressive Party (Hrvatska narodna napredna stranka, NNS). He was also elected in the Croatian parliamentary election, 1913. In 1929, Ivanović built an oil refinery in Osijek named "IPOIL".
In 1936, he started building the first aluminum factory in the Balkans in the town of Lozovac near Šibenik, consulted by Elektrokemisk, now known as "IVANAL" d.d.
During the Second World War he was arrested and imprisoned for three years.
His first factory, IPOIL, was confiscated by the Independent State of Croatia. His second factory, IVANAL, was confiscated by the Italian occupying forces.
Ivanović was stripped of his civil rights and sent to a forced labor camp. After being released, he fled to Italy where he died in Genoa in 1949 aged 68.
He and Milica Popovic had three children together, Ivan, Daška and Vladimir.
In the Croatian parliamentary election, 1908, Ivanović was elected a member of the Croatian Parliament for the city of Osijek. In 1918, as a member of the National Assembly of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes he helped to form the state.
