diff --git a/api/src/app.ts b/api/src/app.ts
index 77c3380..100b529 100644
--- a/api/src/app.ts
+++ b/api/src/app.ts
@@ -59,6 +59,6 @@ export default setProcessVariables().then(async () => {
 
   app.use(onError)
 
-  connectDB()
+  await connectDB()
   return app
 })
diff --git a/api/src/utils/connectDB.ts b/api/src/utils/connectDB.ts
index 7709b49..ea52cbe 100644
--- a/api/src/utils/connectDB.ts
+++ b/api/src/utils/connectDB.ts
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import mongoose from 'mongoose'
 import { populateClients } from '../routes/api/auth'
 import { seedDB } from './seedDB'
 
-export const connectDB = () => {
+export const connectDB = async () => {
   // NOTE: when exporting app.js as agent for supertest
   // we should exclude connecting to the real database
   if (process.env.NODE_ENV === 'test') {