Dragons' Den Dragons' Den Dragons' Den is a reality television program format in which entrepreneurs pitch their business ideas to a panel of venture capitalists in the hope of securing investment finance from them. The program originated in Japan, where it is known as "The Tigers of Money" (マネーの虎 manē no tora), a pun on "The Tiger of Malaya" (マレーの虎 marē no tora), the nickname of WWII general Tomoyuki Yamashita). The format was created and is owned by Nippon TV and is distributed by Sony Pictures Television. Local versions of the show have been produced in nearly 30 countries, as well as
Dragons' Den (UK TV programme) that it is typical for some angel investments to fall down at the due diligence stage." After only one series of the programme, Simon Woodroffe left the panel. Woodroffe stated that the reason behind his departure was "The show became a battle of egos — not a forum for business innovation. The thing to remember was that when you walk up the stairs to pitch, it’s not five people necessarily thinking 'How am I going to be able to make an investment here?', they’re also thinking: 'Am I going to be the star of this next little piece?'. That's not