diff --git a/internal/experimental/registry/reference.go b/internal/experimental/registry/reference.go
index ced6cf33a..ebab29a7e 100644
--- a/internal/experimental/registry/reference.go
+++ b/internal/experimental/registry/reference.go
@@ -86,6 +86,7 @@ func (ref *Reference) FullName() string {
 
 // validate makes sure the ref meets our criteria
 func (ref *Reference) validate() error {
+
 	err := ref.validateRepo()
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
@@ -100,7 +101,7 @@ func (ref *Reference) validateRepo() error {
 	}
 	// Makes sure the repo results in a parsable URL (similar to what is done
 	// with containerd reference parsing)
-	_, err := url.Parse(ref.Repo)
+	_, err := url.Parse("//" + ref.Repo)
 	return err
 }
 
diff --git a/internal/experimental/registry/reference_test.go b/internal/experimental/registry/reference_test.go
index bb53ebab8..aae03ad99 100644
--- a/internal/experimental/registry/reference_test.go
+++ b/internal/experimental/registry/reference_test.go
@@ -81,6 +81,13 @@ func TestParseReference(t *testing.T) {
 	is.Equal("1.5.0", ref.Tag)
 	is.Equal("myrepo:5001/mychart:1.5.0", ref.FullName())
 
+	s = "127.0.0.1:5001/mychart:1.5.0"
+	ref, err = ParseReference(s)
+	is.NoError(err)
+	is.Equal("127.0.0.1:5001/mychart", ref.Repo)
+	is.Equal("1.5.0", ref.Tag)
+	is.Equal("127.0.0.1:5001/mychart:1.5.0", ref.FullName())
+
 	s = "localhost:5000/mychart:latest"
 	ref, err = ParseReference(s)
 	is.NoError(err)