Equity is the ownership share entrepreneurs usually offer investors on the BBC's Dragon's Den.
A typical pitch states how much money the entrepreneur wants and what percentage of the company they are prepared to give in return. That percentage is equity: an ownership interest in the business. The requested investment and proposed percentage together imply a valuation, which the dragons then challenge using sales, profit and growth evidence.
Equity is not the same as interest, which is normally the cost of borrowing money. It is also different from turnover, which means the revenue generated by sales before expenses. These terms often appear in the same pitch, but they describe different things.
A television agreement is not automatically a completed investment. Due diligence, legal checks and further negotiation can change or end a deal after filming. Even so, equity is the standard ownership concept that explains the programme's central negotiation: an entrepreneur trades part of a company for capital, expertise or contacts.