diff --git a/index.js b/index.js
index 30984d1..97e8a30 100644
--- a/index.js
+++ b/index.js
@@ -5,8 +5,7 @@ Copyrights licensed under the New BSD License. See the accompanying LICENSE file
 
 var fs = require('fs'),
     path = require('path'),
-    SVGO = require('svgo'),
-    svgo = new SVGO(),
+    svgo = require('svgo'),
     dot = require('dot'),
     template = dot.template(fs.readFileSync(path.join(__dirname, 'templates', 'basic.svg'), 'utf-8')),
     v2 = require('./v2'),
@@ -37,10 +36,19 @@ module.exports = function badge (field1, field2, color, callback) {
         };
 
     // Run the SVG through SVGO.
-    return svgo.optimize(template(data)).then(function (object) {
-        if (callback) callback(null, object.data);
-        return object.data;
+    const raw = utils.fixupNumericEntities(template(data));
+    const optimized = svgo.optimize(raw, {
+        plugins: ['preset-default'],
     });
+    if (optimized.modernError) {
+      if (callback) { 
+          callback(optimized.modernError, undefined); 
+          return;
+      }
+      return Promise.reject(optimized.modernError);
+    }
+    if (callback) callback(null, optimized.data);
+    return Promise.resolve(optimized.data);
 };
 
 /**
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index 08121ad..17aa16b 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -53,6 +53,6 @@
   "dependencies": {
     "css-color-names": "~1.0.1",
     "dot": "^1.1.3",
-    "svgo": "^1.3.2"
+    "svgo": "2.6.0"
   }
 }
diff --git a/utils.js b/utils.js
index 1de1f7c..fefe0bb 100644
--- a/utils.js
+++ b/utils.js
@@ -14,7 +14,18 @@ var LETTER_WIDTH = [
         8,8,8,8,8,7,7,7,6,6,6,6,6,6,9,5,6,6,6,6,3,3,3,3,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,6,7,6,6,6,
         6,5,6
     ];
-
+/**
+ * Replace numeric entity codes with the related entity code name
+ * for the "<" and "&" characters. Prevent svgo "Unencoded ..." errors,
+ * see https://github.com/svg/svgo/issues/1498.
+ * @method replaceNumericEntities
+ * @param  {String}  string Input string
+ * @return {String}         Fixed string
+ */
+module.exports.fixupNumericEntities = function replaceNumericEntitities(string) {
+    return string.replace(/&#(x3c|60);/gi, '&lt;')
+                 .replace(/&#(x26|38);/gi, '&amp;');
+} 
 
 /**
  * Escape the string so that it doesn't break xml
diff --git a/v2.js b/v2.js
index 8cc68ce..b1e31df 100644
--- a/v2.js
+++ b/v2.js
@@ -8,12 +8,7 @@ var colors = require('css-color-names'),
     fs = require('fs'),
     path = require('path'),
     utils = require('./utils'),
-    SVGO = require('svgo'),
-    svgo = new SVGO({
-        plugins: [{
-            sortDefsChildren: false
-        }]
-    }),
+    svgo = require('svgo'),
     TEMPLATE = dot.template(fs.readFileSync(path.join(__dirname, 'templates', 'v2.svg'), 'utf-8')),
     COLOR_REGEX             = /^[0-9a-f]{6}$/i,
     STROKE_REGEX            = /^s\{(.+?)\}$/i,
@@ -101,11 +96,30 @@ function sectionsToData(sections) {
 
 
 module.exports = function badge_v2(sections, callback) {
-    var raw = TEMPLATE(sectionsToData(sections));
-    return svgo.optimize(raw).then(function(optimized) {
-        if (callback) callback(undefined, optimized.data);
-        return optimized.data;
-    });
+    var raw = utils.fixupNumericEntities(
+        TEMPLATE(sectionsToData(sections))
+    );
+    const optimized = svgo.optimize(raw, {
+        plugins: [
+            {
+                name: 'preset-default',
+                params: {
+                    overrides: {
+                        sortDefsChildren: false,
+                    }
+                }
+            }
+        ],
+    })
+    if (optimized.modernError) {
+      if (callback) { 
+          callback(optimized.modernError, undefined); 
+          return;
+      }
+      return Promise.reject(optimized.modernError);
+    }
+    if (callback) callback(undefined, optimized.data);
+    return Promise.resolve(optimized.data);
 };