Dragon's Den is adapted from which Japanese business reality programme?

Dragon's Den is adapted from the Japanese business reality programme Money Tigers.

Money Tigers established the core format in which entrepreneurs present business proposals to a panel of wealthy investors. The British adaptation retained the central negotiation structure while giving its investors the distinctive name “dragons.”

The format relies on direct questioning about sales, costs, ownership and growth. A contestant may receive no offers, one offer or several competing offers, although an agreement filmed during an episode is not automatically a completed investment.

The Japanese original inspired versions in several countries. The American adaptation became Shark Tank, while the British programme kept the dragon imagery and title. That difference in naming can make the source format easy to overlook when comparing international editions.