Shark Tank is the American adaptation of the investment format associated with Dragons' Den.
The American programme premiered on ABC in 2009. Entrepreneurs pitch products or businesses to a panel of investors, called Sharks, who can offer money in exchange for equity or another form of participation.
The structure closely resembles the British series: each entrepreneur presents a proposal, answers questions about the business and negotiates if investors show interest. The American show developed its own panel, terminology and production identity while retaining the central pitch-and-investment concept.
The Profit and American Inventor are American business or entrepreneurship programmes, but neither is the US adaptation of Dragons' Den. Shark Tank is also separate from the original Japanese programme Money Tigers, which supplied the underlying format.