diff --git a/spacy/cli/project.py b/spacy/cli/project.py
index c02c1cf98..861a48f4b 100644
--- a/spacy/cli/project.py
+++ b/spacy/cli/project.py
@@ -295,15 +295,21 @@ def project_assets(project_dir: Path) -> None:
         msg.warn(f"No assets specified in {CONFIG_FILE}", exits=0)
     msg.info(f"Fetching {len(assets)} asset(s)")
     variables = config.get("variables", {})
+    fetched_assets = []
     for asset in assets:
         url = asset["url"].format(**variables)
         dest = asset["dest"].format(**variables)
-        fetch_asset(project_path, url, dest, asset.get("checksum"))
+        fetched_path = fetch_asset(project_path, url, dest, asset.get("checksum"))
+        if fetched_path:
+            fetched_assets.append(str(fetched_path))
+    if fetched_assets:
+        with working_dir(project_path):
+            run_command(["dvc", "add", *fetched_assets, "--external"])
 
 
 def fetch_asset(
     project_path: Path, url: str, dest: Path, checksum: Optional[str] = None
-) -> None:
+) -> Optional[Path]:
     """Fetch an asset from a given URL or path. Will try to import the file
     using DVC's import-url if possible (fully tracked and versioned) and falls
     back to get-url (versioned) and a non-DVC download if necessary. If a
@@ -313,6 +319,8 @@ def fetch_asset(
     project_path (Path): Path to project directory.
     url (str): URL or path to asset.
     checksum (Optional[str]): Optional expected checksum of local file.
+    RETURNS (Optional[Path]): The path to the fetched asset or None if fetching
+        the asset failed.
     """
     url = convert_asset_url(url)
     dest_path = (project_path / dest).resolve()
@@ -321,8 +329,7 @@ def fetch_asset(
         # TODO: add support for caches (dvc import-url with local path)
         if checksum == get_checksum(dest_path):
             msg.good(f"Skipping download with matching checksum: {dest}")
-            return
-    dvc_add_cmd = ["dvc", "add", str(dest_path), "--external"]
+            return dest_path
     with working_dir(project_path):
         try:
             # If these fail, we don't want to output an error or info message.
@@ -334,16 +341,16 @@ def fetch_asset(
             except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
                 dvc_cmd = ["dvc", "get-url", url, str(dest_path)]
                 print(subprocess.check_output(dvc_cmd, stderr=subprocess.DEVNULL))
-                run_command(dvc_add_cmd)
         except subprocess.CalledProcessError:
             try:
                 download_file(url, dest_path)
             except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as e:
                 msg.fail(f"Download failed: {dest}", e)
-            run_command(dvc_add_cmd)
+                return None
     if checksum and checksum != get_checksum(dest_path):
         msg.warn(f"Checksum doesn't match value defined in {CONFIG_FILE}: {dest}")
     msg.good(f"Fetched asset {dest}")
+    return dest_path
 
 
 def project_run_all(project_dir: Path, *dvc_args) -> None: