The American adaptation of the television format behind Dragon's Den is Shark Tank.
Shark Tank premiered in the United States in 2009 on ABC. Like Dragon's Den, it features entrepreneurs presenting companies or products to a panel of wealthy investors. The entrepreneurs seek capital, usually in exchange for an ownership percentage, and the investors question them about sales, valuation, costs and growth.
The title changes the animal metaphor from dragons to sharks, but the underlying format comes from the Japanese programme Money Tigers. Shark Tank became a major American television franchise and has featured rotating investors, known as sharks, rather than a permanently fixed panel.
The two shows are often treated as separate inventions because their titles, investors and production styles differ. They are better understood as national versions of the same underlying format. Other countries have used titles involving lions, tigers or dragons, reflecting local branding choices while retaining the basic entrepreneur-versus-investor structure.