Nov 4 (Reuters) - 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 $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 (ABNd.AS) and infrastructure management for Daimler-owned (DAIGn.DE) 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. They had worked together on a research project to make cloud technologies, which were then being developed by Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O), available to scientists. HashiCorp, whose investors include Mayfield, Franklin Templeton and T Rowe Price, is the latest company trying to take advantage of strong investor demand for high-growth tech stocks. Software development platform GitLab Inc (GTLB.O) was valued at nearly $15 billion in its Nasdaq debut last month, while restaurant software provider Toast Inc (TOST.N) fetched a valuation of nearly $33 billion in September. Hashicorp will list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "HCP". Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs & Co, J.P. Morgan, Bofa Securities and Citigroup are lead underwriters on the offering.