diff --git a/litellm/utils.py b/litellm/utils.py
index 515918822..dbc988bb9 100644
--- a/litellm/utils.py
+++ b/litellm/utils.py
@@ -7805,6 +7805,7 @@ class CustomStreamWrapper:
             "<s>",
             "</s>",
             "<|im_end|>",
+            "<|im_start|>",
         ]
         self.holding_chunk = ""
         self.complete_response = ""