The first oil and gas project to crowdfund under Texas’ new regulation has met its campaign goals on Crudefunders LLC, a Houston-based crowdfunding portal offering direct investment in oil well drilling projects to non-accredited investors and accredited investors. 
David Taylor, CEO of Crudefunder, is cited in the Houston Business Journal as saying the $950,000 well project in Ozona, Texas, was a relatively safe project to start as Crudefunders’ inaugural fund. It was a reworking project, which means that at one point the wells had already been active. Access to securities offerings on Crudefunders is limited to Texas residents only and the subsequent offer and sale of such securities are limited to persons that are Texas residents, according to the website.
According to Taylor, about 30 investors were involved in the project. Unaccredited investors provided about $120,000, and three accredited investors also came in to purchase almost the complete remainder of the project. Now that the project has been funded, investors will begin to receive payments in the next 60 days, once the wells begin producing and selling oil back to market, notes the Houston Business Journal.
Taylor noted that the goal is to have unaccredited investors fund an entire project. In the future, he said, Crudefunders projects will have values that are lower, around $500,000. He plans for a variety of types as well: mineral projects, shallow wells and even funding for service companies to get off the ground. Current offers include Permian Lease Holdings, LLC, in Crocket County, Texas, a three-well project drilling and operating with existing production, with a minimum investment of $1,000.
Crudefunders isn’t the only site to recently close its first crowdfunding project under Texas’ new regulations; NextSeed LLC, a crowdfunding startup also based in the Houston area, recently closed its first project: a hair salon in southeast Houston.
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