Team Nigma Merges With Galaxy Racer to “Build an Authentic Voice” for the MENA Region

Team Nigma, the esports organization formed by four of five members of The International 7 (TI) champion team and Galaxy Racer (GXR), an esports organization based out of the Middle East that fields rosters from multiple titles, have merged to form Nigma Galaxy. Team Nigma will handle all esports rosters of Galaxy Racer as part of this partnership. Nigma Galaxy will aim to improve esports opportunities in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), and Asia, as well as promote local talent to reach the international stage. Team Nigma's co-founders, Mohammed Morad, Christoph Timm, and Kuro “KuroKy” Salehi Takhasomi, will lead Nigma Galaxy as a standalone entity under the Galaxy Racer brand.

Team Nigma and Galaxy Racer merge to create better opportunities for MENA and Asia

An official announcement of the partnership between the two organizations was made on 20th Sept 2021. With headquarters in Abu Dhabi, Nigma Galaxy plans on becoming the voice for MENA and the top esports organization in the world.

The aim of Nigma Galaxy will be to eliminate the barriers related to "infrastructure, funding, and support" that exist in the MENA region and provide a platform for individuals to pursue a career in esports. Furthermore, the organization intends to create a ‘Nigma Galaxy Academy’ to help nurture young talent.

Under this merger, all of Galaxy Racer's competitive esports rosters will be managed by Team Nigma. This competitive division will function under the Galaxy Racer brand along with four other divisions: “Content Creators, Tournaments Management, Merchandising and Lifestyle and GXR Record.”

“Nigma Galaxy will operate as a standalone entity with its own budget, brand, direction and identity, retaining the current Team Nigma colours. While Galaxy Racer will also retain its brand identity and will be able to focus on developing its already-robust content creator structure and additional branches to the business,” according to the press release.

Galaxy Racer's CEO and Founder, Paul Roy, said, "We are excited to announce our merger with Team Nigma to transform our competitive esports division into Nigma Galaxy. Team Nigma’s leadership team carries vast experience as professional players, which we believe will be a great asset to building and supporting all the teams under the Nigma Galaxy banner.

Celebrating and nurturing the untapped gaming community around the world is what Galaxy Racer was founded on. With this merger, we believe we will be able to truly unlock this potential and shape the future of esports on a global scale.”

Muhammad Morad, Co-Founder of Team Nigma, said, “We are thrilled to announce our merger with Galaxy Racer. Galaxy Racer has a brilliant understanding of the entertainment business and together we share a mutual passion for supporting and nurturing talent within the MENA region. There is also a lot of natural synergy between our brands with Nigma meaning “star” in Arabic. Before this merger, Nigma was a single star. By becoming Nigma Galaxy, we will have a Galaxy full of stars.”

As a result of this merger, Team Nigma and Galaxy Racer, which had their own Dota 2 rosters, will now likely be part of Nigma Galaxy. However, in accordance with Valve's rules, organizations are not allowed to field two Dota 2 rosters at The International as both qualifying leads to a conflict of interest. If such a scenario occurrs, the organization has to either get rid of one roster or send only the team with the higher ranking to play at TI.