diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 0a48c6746..3dad8eced 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@ before_install:
   - sudo apt-get -qq update
   - sudo apt-get install -y libow-dev
 install:
+  - pip install --upgrade setuptools
   - pip install --upgrade pytest pytest-mock pytest-cov coveralls codecov
   - pip install -r dev-requirements.txt
   - pip install -e .