diff --git a/apps/opentelemetry_exporter/src/opentelemetry_exporter.erl b/apps/opentelemetry_exporter/src/opentelemetry_exporter.erl
index 346bb11f..138d3895 100644
--- a/apps/opentelemetry_exporter/src/opentelemetry_exporter.erl
+++ b/apps/opentelemetry_exporter/src/opentelemetry_exporter.erl
@@ -24,11 +24,19 @@ init(Opts) ->
         grpc ->
             Endpoints = maps:get(endpoints, Opts, ?DEFAULT_ENDPOINTS),
             ChannelOpts = maps:get(channel_opts, Opts, #{}),
-            {ok, ChannelPid} = grpcbox_channel:start_link(?MODULE, Endpoints, ChannelOpts),
-
-            {ok, #state{channel_pid=ChannelPid,
-                        endpoints=Endpoints,
-                        protocol=grpc}};
+            case grpcbox_channel:start_link(?MODULE, Endpoints, ChannelOpts) of
+                {ok, ChannelPid} ->
+                    {ok, #state{channel_pid=ChannelPid,
+                                endpoints=Endpoints,
+                                protocol=grpc}};
+                ErrorOrIgnore ->
+                    %% even if it is `ignore' we should just use `http_protobuf' because
+                    %% `ignore' should never happen and means something is wrong
+                    ?LOG_WARNING("unable to start grpc channel for exporting and falling back "
+                                 "to http_protobuf protocol. reason=~p", [ErrorOrIgnore]),
+                    {ok, #state{endpoints=Endpoints,
+                                protocol=http_protobuf}}
+            end;
         http_protobuf ->
             {ok, #state{endpoints=Endpoints,
                         protocol=http_protobuf}};
diff --git a/rebar.lock b/rebar.lock
index 404ee35f..88ac9bb3 100644
--- a/rebar.lock
+++ b/rebar.lock
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
  {<<"chatterbox">>,{pkg,<<"ts_chatterbox">>,<<"0.11.0">>},1},
  {<<"ctx">>,{pkg,<<"ctx">>,<<"0.6.0">>},1},
  {<<"gproc">>,{pkg,<<"gproc">>,<<"0.8.0">>},1},
- {<<"grpcbox">>,{pkg,<<"grpcbox">>,<<"0.13.0">>},0},
+ {<<"grpcbox">>,{pkg,<<"grpcbox">>,<<"0.13.1">>},0},
  {<<"hpack">>,{pkg,<<"hpack_erl">>,<<"0.2.3">>},2}]}.
 [
 {pkg_hash,[
@@ -11,13 +11,13 @@
  {<<"chatterbox">>, <<"B8F372C706023EB0DE5BF2976764EDB27C70FE67052C88C1F6A66B3A5626847F">>},
  {<<"ctx">>, <<"8FF88B70E6400C4DF90142E7F130625B82086077A45364A78D208ED3ED53C7FE">>},
  {<<"gproc">>, <<"CEA02C578589C61E5341FCE149EA36CCEF236CC2ECAC8691FBA408E7EA77EC2F">>},
- {<<"grpcbox">>, <<"85DD83F45ED8B39A42813D0D01568ECC75B1C7A800B7E04E01532F168C5C29A1">>},
+ {<<"grpcbox">>, <<"14DCB8D097ED05E43A7C2628E46F71585BA5C5C03FA1C086E7C369A698F038D2">>},
  {<<"hpack">>, <<"17670F83FF984AE6CD74B1C456EDDE906D27FF013740EE4D9EFAA4F1BF999633">>}]},
 {pkg_hash_ext,[
  {<<"acceptor_pool">>, <<"0CBCD83FDC8B9AD2EEE2067EF8B91A14858A5883CB7CD800E6FCD5803E158788">>},
  {<<"chatterbox">>, <<"722FE2BAD52913AB7E87D849FC6370375F0C961FFB2F0B5E6D647C9170C382A6">>},
  {<<"ctx">>, <<"A14ED2D1B67723DBEBBE423B28D7615EB0BDCBA6FF28F2D1F1B0A7E1D4AA5FC2">>},
  {<<"gproc">>, <<"580ADAFA56463B75263EF5A5DF4C86AF321F68694E7786CB057FD805D1E2A7DE">>},
- {<<"grpcbox">>, <<"D4FB34D47C1C5F908B76E65C22C74AA001DE316C098512CE9BEB4DFFF60FC68C">>},
+ {<<"grpcbox">>, <<"F83114A4AE3A09A7AE489816A48EF2CA4AC5D95400ABAB8D3271143D58CB6A75">>},
  {<<"hpack">>, <<"06F580167C4B8B8A6429040DF36CC93BBA6D571FAEAEC1B28816523379CBB23A">>}]}
 ].