What Japanese television programme was the British Dragons' Den format based on?

The British Dragons' Den format was based on the Japanese television programme Money Tigers.

Money Tigers, known in Japan as Manē no Tora, established the basic structure later used by Dragons' Den and several other international versions. Entrepreneurs present business ideas to affluent investors, seeking funding in return for part ownership of their companies.

The title refers to the investors rather than the entrepreneurs: the Japanese word tora means “tiger,” while the British adaptation replaced that animal image with “dragons.” The change helped give the British programme its own identity while retaining the confrontational pitch-room format.

A common mix-up is to identify Shark Tank as the source of the British show. Shark Tank is a separate American adaptation of the same broad international format. The original programme behind the franchise was Japanese, and Money Tigers is the English-language title generally used when describing that origin.