London Company, or Virginia Company of London, a branch of an English joint-stock company chartered in 1606 to establish colonies in North America. (The other branch was the Virginia Company of Plymouth, later called the Council for New England.) The London Company founded Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607. The company secured a second charter in 1609 and a third in 1612. The investors hoped for quick profits by finding gold. The company invested about $200,000 and sent out more than 14,000 emigrants, but the colony did not prosper. King James I had the company's charter annulled in 1624, and Virginia became a royal colony.