Talenthouse raises $4.2 mn in series 3 funding

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.