Shark Tank is the United States adaptation of the business-pitch format associated with Dragon's Den.
In Shark Tank, entrepreneurs present companies and products to a panel of investors, called Sharks, and negotiate for capital in exchange for an ownership stake. The American title changes the animal metaphor, but the basic television structure remains closely related to the international format.
The series premiered in the United States in 2009 on ABC. Its investors have included figures such as Mark Cuban, Barbara Corcoran, Kevin O'Leary, Daymond John, Robert Herjavec and Lori Greiner.
A common mistake is to treat Shark Tank as a direct British spin-off. It is better described as the American adaptation of a format that originated in Japan and was also adapted in Britain as Dragon's Den.