The investor panel in the British programme Dragons' Den is called the Dragons.
Each Dragon is a wealthy businessperson who listens to entrepreneurs seeking investment. Contestants normally present a business plan, state how much money they want and offer a percentage of their company. The Dragons can ask questions, negotiate terms, collaborate with one another or decline to invest.
The title is a British adaptation of the format’s imagery rather than a description of the investors’ personalities. The panel has included figures from retail, technology, finance, property, manufacturing and media. Membership has changed across series, so the word “Dragons” refers to the role and panel collectively rather than to one permanent group of individuals.
A frequent international mix-up is “Sharks,” the name used by the United States version, Shark Tank. The British programme uses “Dragons,” while the Japanese source format is Money Tigers. These titles identify related versions of the same broad investment format.