The BBC business series Dragon's Den was inspired by the Japanese television programme Money Tigers.
Money Tigers was created in Japan as a format in which entrepreneurs presented business proposals to wealthy investors. The concept was later adapted for several countries, with each version using local entrepreneurs and investors while retaining the core pitch-and-negotiate structure.
The British adaptation uses the term “dragons” for its investors, whereas the United States version is known as Shark Tank. This difference in branding sometimes causes viewers to assume the British show was created independently, but both programmes descend from the same Japanese format.
Dragon's Den became one of the BBC's best-known factual entertainment programmes. Its pitches typically cover funding, equity percentages, company valuations and the investors' experience of the entrepreneurs and their products.