The American version of the business-investment television format used by BBC's Dragon's Den is Shark Tank.
Dragon's Den is part of an international format created by Nippon TV in Japan. Entrepreneurs present business ideas to wealthy investors and seek money in exchange for an ownership stake. The investors question the entrepreneurs before deciding whether to make an offer.
The American adaptation premiered on ABC in August 2009 under the title Shark Tank. Its investors are called sharks rather than dragons, but the central structure is similar: a pitch, questioning, negotiation and a possible investment. Mark Burnett, known for producing several major reality television programmes, helped bring the format to the United States.
The names are sometimes confused because Dragon's Den and Shark Tank are adaptations of the same underlying format, not unrelated shows with merely similar premises. Other countries have used both titles, depending on local branding.