HashiCorp Inc filed for a U.S. initial public offering on Thursday, seeking to capitalize on investor appetite for software firms benefiting from a pandemic-induced digital shift. The company firm is aiming for a valuation of nearly US$10 billion, said a person familiar with the matter. Hashicorp began as an open-source project and provides cloud-based software to customers such as Dutch lender ABN AMRO and infrastructure management for Daimler-owned car marker Mercedes-Benz. The company was co-founded in 2012 by Mitchell Hashimoto and Armon Dadgar, who met at the University of Washington in 2008.