Roundup: A123 files for IPO, Nokia opens in Africa, Calera comes out, and more

A123 Systems files proposal for IPO — Lithium-ion battery maker A123 Systems, which aims to sell into the electric vehicle market, has filed the initial registration statement required for an initial public offering. The number of shares to be sold or price has not yet been determined.

Nokia opens research unit in Africa — Aiming to keep ahead in Africa’s growing telecommunications market, handset maker Nokia has opened a unit to study which services will work best on the continent.

Calera succeeds in binding CO2 into cement — An initial pilot project by stealth-mode cement maker Calera, which was funded last year by Khosla Ventures, has successfully run a pilot in which it bound about half a ton of CO2 for every ton of cement it made. Usually, cement manufacturing is a huge emitter of CO2. The Scientific American has a profile, with more details. However, the biggest question — whether Calera can make cement cost-effectively — has yet to be answered.

Stealthy cloud security firm Confidela funded — An Israeli firm developing a “new security model in cloud computing, for use in tasks like online document collaboration, has raised a second round of $5 million, according to Globes.

Matrix Partners scores former PayPal exec — Dana Stalder, a senior vice president of marketing at PayPal, has defected to become a general partner at Matrix Partners.

Stealth material makers not in stealth at all — A pair of science teams have divulged the results of experiments in which they tested out so-called “cloaking” materials, which can bend and re-direct light. As usual for such experiments, the advances are being reported as a first step toward an invisibility cloak, but right now the materials are likely more useful for optical applications like magnification or refraction.

Legg Mason loses Massachusetts pension fund — Legendary manager Bill Miller, who runs the Legg Mason Value Trust, has been fired by Massachusetts’ state pension fund, which had $1.4 billion in the trust. Miller’s fortunes have sunk somewhat over the past couple years, as once-outstanding investments like Yahoo have fallen.

The one that got away — Riffing off Bessemer Ventures’ well known “anti-portfolio” of successful companies the firm declined to invest in, the Merc has a few more anecdotes of VC missteps.

Did Intel and Microsoft try to kill One Laptop Per Child? — A lengthy flashback to the rise and fall of Nicholas Negroponte’s OLPC project, intended to put a cheap laptop in the hands of children in developing countries worldwide, is in the Times Online. Despite various setbacks, the Times notes that the OLPC has still sold over a million units to date.