diff --git a/backends/src/lib.rs b/backends/src/lib.rs
index 245715b3..f4d1b300 100644
--- a/backends/src/lib.rs
+++ b/backends/src/lib.rs
@@ -364,6 +364,7 @@ async fn init_backend(
     otlp_service_name: String,
 ) -> Result<Box<dyn CoreBackend + Send>, BackendError> {
     let mut backend_start_failed = false;
+    let api_repo = api_repo.map(Arc::new);
 
     if cfg!(feature = "ort") {
         #[cfg(feature = "ort")]
@@ -409,7 +410,7 @@ async fn init_backend(
     if let Some(api_repo) = api_repo.as_ref() {
         if cfg!(feature = "python") || cfg!(feature = "candle") {
             let start = std::time::Instant::now();
-            if download_safetensors(api_repo).await.is_err() {
+            if download_safetensors(api_repo.clone()).await.is_err() {
                 tracing::warn!("safetensors weights not found. Using `pytorch_model.bin` instead. Model loading will be significantly slower.");
                 tracing::info!("Downloading `pytorch_model.bin`");
                 api_repo
@@ -581,7 +582,7 @@ enum BackendCommand {
     ),
 }
 
-async fn download_safetensors(api: &ApiRepo) -> Result<Vec<PathBuf>, ApiError> {
+async fn download_safetensors(api: Arc<ApiRepo>) -> Result<Vec<PathBuf>, ApiError> {
     // Single file
     tracing::info!("Downloading `model.safetensors`");
     match api.get("model.safetensors").await {
@@ -611,10 +612,20 @@ async fn download_safetensors(api: &ApiRepo) -> Result<Vec<PathBuf>, ApiError> {
     }
 
     // Download weight files
-    let mut safetensors_files = Vec::new();
+    let mut handles = Vec::with_capacity(safetensors_filenames.len());
     for n in safetensors_filenames {
-        tracing::info!("Downloading `{}`", n);
-        safetensors_files.push(api.get(&n).await?);
+        let api = Arc::clone(&api);
+        handles.push(tokio::spawn(async move {
+            tracing::info!("Downloading `{}`", n);
+            api.get(&n).await
+        }));
+    }
+
+    let mut safetensors_files = Vec::with_capacity(handles.len());
+    for handle in handles {
+        // Await the JoinHandle to get the result of the task,
+        // then unpack the inner result from api.get()
+        safetensors_files.push(handle.await??);
     }
 
     Ok(safetensors_files)