Erzat Dulat is a Kazakhstani machine learning research engineer, co-founder, and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Higgsfield AI. The company attained unicorn status in September 2025, and on August 17, 2026, closed a monumental $400 million Series B funding round at a $5.4 billion valuation. For a full breakdown of the startup’s rapid rise, read our investigation on how Higgsfield AI became Kazakhstan’s first unicorn in two years.
Early Life, Physics Olympiads, and Self-Taught ML Mastery
Born in Almaty to a family of physicians, Dulat demonstrated exceptional mathematical aptitude early, graduating from the prestigious Republican Physics and Mathematics School (RFMSH), where he won national physics olympiads. Rather than pursuing traditional university degrees, Dulat chose self-directed study, immersing himself in machine learning theory and programming in 2013—inspired by Arman Suleimenov, founder of nFactorial School.
Career Timeline: Erzat Dulat
- RFMSH, Almaty: Physics olympiad medalist; bypassed formal university enrollment to focus on autonomous software engineering.
- 2013: Wrote his first code repositories.
- 2014: Published open-source implementations of machine learning algorithms on GitHub, attracting hundreds of international developers.
- Pre-2023: Architected machine learning systems across Kazakhstan’s leading tech enterprises—Kaspi.kz, Kolesa Group, and Eurasian Resources Group (ERG)—building facial recognition, license plate blurring, and recommendation engines.
- 2018: According to Forbes Kazakhstan, OpenAI co-founder John Schulman personally offered him an engineering post at OpenAI, which Dulat declined to pursue independent projects.
- May 2023: Pitched his generative video vision to prominent angel investor Murat Abdrakhmanov, securing a $250,000 initial pre-seed check.
- 2023: Co-founded Higgsfield AI alongside Alex Mashrabov, former Head of Generative AI at Snap, following an introduction by venture capitalist Nikolai Davydov.
- December 2023: Launched the consumer mobile app Diffuse, reaching 2 million users by spring 2024.
- April 2024: Raised $8 million Seed round led by Menlo Ventures.
- September 2025: Closed a $50 million Series A, crossing the $1 billion unicorn threshold.
- January 2026: Expanded Series A with an additional $80 million at a $1.3 billion valuation and $200 million ARR run-rate across 15M users.
- August 2026: Closed a $400 million Series B at a $5.4 billion valuation.
Technology Stack and Generative Architecture
Higgsfield AI operates as an integrated creative video platform, synthesizing foundation video generation models with fine-grained cinematic editing tools tailored for commercial advertising, social media creators, and film studios. Under Dulat’s engineering leadership, the architecture emphasizes:
- Precise Cinematic Camera Control & Character Physics: Real-time trajectory tuning, multi-angle camera panning, and consistent facial kinematics, making the output viable for commercial Hollywood post-production.
- Global Scale: Over 30 million active users generating millions of minutes of synthetic video across 238 jurisdictions.
- Market Consolidation: While OpenAI shuttered its consumer Sora standalone application on April 26, 2026, and Runway pivoted toward robotics world models following its $315M round, Higgsfield established undisputed market leadership in creator video generation.
For perspectives on generative workflows, review our guide on why AI literacy is becoming essential across digital careers.
Higgsfield’s Explosive 2026 Surge: From $1.3B to $5.4B Valuation
Higgsfield’s commercial velocity in 2026 is unprecedented. In January 2026, annual recurring revenue run-rate stood at $200 million; by June, ARR surged to $500 million, with 70% driven by B2B enterprise contracts. On August 17, 2026, Higgsfield announced its $400 million Series B led by Yuri Milner’s DST Global, backed by Goldman Sachs Alternatives, Tribe Capital, Smash Capital, Intel Capital, and existing investors Menlo Ventures and Accel.
At the time of the round, annualized revenue reached an astounding $700 million. In March 2026, early investor Murat Abdrakhmanov predicted that Higgsfield would surpass the market capitalization of Halyk Bank by year-end, while Dulat affirmed that the enterprise is targeting decacorn status ($10B+ valuation) after rebuffing acquisition bids from Meta and xAI in 2024.
Frequently Asked Questions About Erzat Dulat & Higgsfield AI
What is Erzat Dulat’s role at Higgsfield AI?
Erzat Dulat is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Higgsfield AI, directing all foundation model engineering, neural architecture, and computer vision systems.
What is Higgsfield AI’s current valuation?
As of August 2026, Higgsfield AI is valued at $5.4 billion following a $400 million Series B financing round led by DST Global.
Where did Erzat Dulat work before founding Higgsfield?
Dulat built machine learning systems at Kaspi.kz, Kolesa Group, and Eurasian Resources Group (ERG), specializing in facial recognition and computer vision.
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