JERUSALEM, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) -- The total expenditure on research and development (R&D) of Israeli start-up companies rose 6.5 percent in 2016 from 2015, according to a report published Wednesday by the state Central Bureau of Statistics.

The total R&D expenses by Israeli start-ups amounted to 7.14 billion new shekels (1.96 billion U.S. dollars) in 2016, accounting for 13.6 percent of the total R&D expenditure in the business sector in Israel.

In 2016, revenues from R&D sales in the Israeli business sector totalled 31.1 billion new shekels, an increase of 7.8 percent compared with 2015, when revenues were 28.8 billion new shekels.

The main source of the R&D expenditure increase was the software industry, which contributed to 51 percent of the increase, followed by the scientific R&D of 39 percent.

Up to 46.6 percent of the funding for Israeli start-ups came from private sources, such as venture capital funds, compared with 48.6 percent in 2015.

The Israeli government, through grants from the Israel Innovation Authority, provided 8 percent of the entire funding to the Israeli start-ups.