MUMBAI: US-based creative crowd sourcing platform Talenthouse has raised $4.2 million from a series of investors in a new round of funding. The investors include director and film producer Brett Ratner, Jean Piggozzi, Est?e Lauder chairman William Lauder, Eric Schmidt?s Innovation Endeavors and 3TS Cisco Growth Fund.

The company had raised a total of $15.1 million in the two earlier rounds.

Telenthouse said that this round was not meant to be a "big raise" but should simply be seen as an investment by a group of people that identified Talenthouse as "the first platform for peer-to-peer engagement at scale". The company currently has about 1.5 million members.

Meanwhile, Talenthouse has also announced the global launch of its social engagement engine. It gives marketers the ability to launch customised campaigns on the site and attach their brands to content.

It aims to provide a link between web influencers and content creators and brands.

Anil Ambani?s Reliance Big Entertainment had bought some stake in Talenthouse last year. It also entered into a joint venture to launch Talenthouse India in October last year.

Based in Mumbai, Talenthouse India oversees growth and business in India and Southeast Asia. It has already collaborated with celebrities like Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Vipul Shah, Shaan, Rocky S, Metallica and brands like Pepsi, Axe, Kurkure, Airtel, and Micromax.

MUMBAI: Nimbus Sport, the media rights holder of Asia Cup, has signed international distribution deals with broadcasters in key cricket markets for the tournament.

Neo Cricket is televising the event in the Indian Sub Continent, US, Canada, UAE, Singapore, North Africa, Philippines and Hong Kong. Zee will air the event in the UK and Europe while Willow TV has done a deal for US and Canada.

Pan-African sportscaster Super Sport is airing the event in South Africa. In Pakistan and Bangladesh, the event is being telecast on PTC and BTV respectively while Carlton has bagged the rights for Sri Lanka. Setanta Australia has got the rights for that market.

On the advertising front, Standard Chartered, Jaypee Cements, Daikin, Indian Oil and Bangladesh Tourism have signed up as the five Official Partners. This is in addition to Micromax which renewed its title sponsorship of the tournament.