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History
2026
Charge of mass account blocking and multiple debits
In mid-February 2026, the $1.3 billion startup Higgsfield AI, which develops neural networks for generating and editing video by text description, was at the center of the scandal. Platform users complain about account locks for no apparent reason, multiple debits of money and other problems.
According to Forbes, the Higgsfield AI service offered significant discounts on "unlimited" tariff plans, and then limited users' capabilities. As part of one of these promotions on Black Friday, the company promised discounts of up to 65% and unlimited access to powerful and expensive AI models such as Google Nano Banana for just $25 a month. For comparison, competitors like Runway are asking for $76 for similar services. Higgsfield's AI offering has attracted a host of content creators who have signed up for unlimited access. However, users then began to notice that after creating several videos a day, the processing speed dropped sharply. One of the clients said that it was simply impossible to work with the platform without additional payment.
Some experts noticed that Higgsfield AI passed off stock videos for materials allegedly generated through AI. Other users have had difficulty withdrawing cash rewards through the Higgsfield Earn program, which claims to allow authors to receive funds for creating popular content. There are also complaints about the complete disappearance of videos uploaded to the portal and the blocking of accounts without explanation.
However, Higgsfield AI management says the service has faced "heavy traffic," which has led to a slowdown in AI tools for some users. And blocking accounts is allegedly associated with fraudulent activity of bots.[1]
Raising $80 million in investments
In January 2026, the results of a round of investments in the Kazakhstani startup Higgsfield were published, which raised $80 million. The company is developing video generation technologies using artificial intelligence. The startup's estimate exceeded $1.3 billion. The funds were funded by Accel, GFT Ventures and Menlo Ventures.
Higgsfield CEO Alexander Mashrabov said that the funds raised will be used to develop corporate sales, enter international markets and further research. The startup also plans to expand its workforce from 70 to 300 employees.
In the fall of 2025, Higgsfield became the first Kazakhstan "unicorn" - a private company with an estimate of over $1 billion. The startup's strategy is not based on direct competition with giants like OpenAI, but on integrating and adapting ready-made AI models to solve specific business problems. The platform specializes in creating marketing video content, maintaining character and branding uniformity through its own "reasoning mechanism."
 | They grew from zero to about $10 million ARR [investment efficiency ratio] in a few weeks, we have never seen anything like it, "Herbst said. |  |
The founders of Higgsfield in 2023 were Alexander Mashrabov and Erzat Dulatov, one of the first machine learning specialists in Kazakhstan. Earlier, Mashrabov worked at Yandex and created the startup AI Factory, which developed animation technology for photos and videos.[2]
Notes
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