diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 5cd4628db0f2..439c68dfa36e 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 #! /usr/bin/make
 
 # Extract version from git, or if we're from a zipfile, use dirname
-VERSION=$(shell git describe --tags --always --dirty=-modded --abbrev=7 2>/dev/null || pwd | sed -n 's|.*/c\{0,1\}lightning-v\{0,1\}\([0-9a-f.rc\-]*\)$$|\1|gp')
+VERSION=$(shell git describe --tags --always --dirty=-modded --abbrev=7 2>/dev/null || pwd | sed -n 's|.*/c\{0,1\}lightning-v\{0,1\}\([0-9a-f.rc\-]*\)$$|v\1|gp')
 
 # Next release.
 CLN_NEXT_VERSION := v24.11