diff --git a/cli/src/main/scala-2.11/coursier/cli/Launch.scala b/cli/src/main/scala-2.11/coursier/cli/Launch.scala
index d8c72e91d..ef6da61d0 100644
--- a/cli/src/main/scala-2.11/coursier/cli/Launch.scala
+++ b/cli/src/main/scala-2.11/coursier/cli/Launch.scala
@@ -207,5 +207,9 @@ case class Launch(
     Helper.errPrintln(s"Launching")
 
   Thread.currentThread().setContextClassLoader(loader)
-  method.invoke(null, userArgs.toArray)
+  try method.invoke(null, userArgs.toArray)
+  catch {
+    case e: java.lang.reflect.InvocationTargetException =>
+      throw Option(e.getCause).getOrElse(e)
+  }
 }
\ No newline at end of file