Portfolio of investments—September 30, 2023 (unaudited)
Portfolio of investments
Shares | Value | |||||
Common stocks: 98.76% | ||||||
Communication services: 0.58% | ||||||
Entertainment: 0.31% | ||||||
Madison Square Garden Entertainment Corp.† | 25,833 | $850,164 | ||||
Media: 0.27% | ||||||
Thryv Holdings, Inc.† | 39,201 | 735,803 | ||||
Consumer discretionary: 10.35% | ||||||
Automobile components: 1.28% | ||||||
Fox Factory Holding Corp.† | 26,486 | 2,624,233 | ||||
Visteon Corp.† | 6,259 | 864,180 | ||||
3,488,413 | ||||||
Diversified consumer services: 2.28% | ||||||
Bright Horizons Family Solutions, Inc.† | 41,255 | 3,360,632 | ||||
Duolingo, Inc.† | 17,300 | 2,869,551 | ||||
6,230,183 | ||||||
Hotels, restaurants & leisure: 4.56% | ||||||
Dutch Bros, Inc. Class A† | 55,500 | 1,290,375 | ||||
First Watch Restaurant Group, Inc.† | 187,012 | 3,233,438 | ||||
Hilton Grand Vacations, Inc.† | 87,702 | 3,569,471 | ||||
Wingstop, Inc. | 24,276 | 4,365,796 | ||||
12,459,080 | ||||||
Specialty retail: 2.23% | ||||||
Boot Barn Holdings, Inc.† | 75,220 | 6,107,112 | ||||
Consumer staples: 7.29% | ||||||
Beverages: 2.07% | ||||||
Celsius Holdings, Inc.† | 18,400 | 3,157,440 | ||||
MGP Ingredients, Inc. | 18,467 | 1,947,899 | ||||
Vita Coco Co., Inc.† | 21,600 | 562,464 | ||||
5,667,803 | ||||||
Consumer staples distribution & retail : 0.55% | ||||||
Chefs’ Warehouse, Inc.† | 70,370 | 1,490,437 | ||||
Food products: 0.81% | ||||||
Freshpet, Inc.† | 11,800 | 777,384 | ||||
Simply Good Foods Co.† | 41,238 | 1,423,536 | ||||
2,200,920 | ||||||
Personal care products: 3.86% | ||||||
BellRing Brands, Inc.† | 90,000 | 3,710,700 | ||||
e.l.f Beauty, Inc.† | 62,297 | 6,842,079 | ||||
10,552,779 | ||||||
See accompanying notes to portfolio of investments
Allspring VT Small Cap Growth Fund | 1
Portfolio of investments—September 30, 2023 (unaudited)
Shares | Value | |||||
Energy: 1.79% | ||||||
Energy equipment & services: 0.53% | ||||||
Helmerich & Payne, Inc. | 34,400 | $1,450,304 | ||||
Oil, gas & consumable fuels: 1.26% | ||||||
Matador Resources Co. | 29,900 | 1,778,452 | ||||
Viper Energy Partners LP | 59,200 | 1,650,496 | ||||
3,428,948 | ||||||
Financials: 8.74% | ||||||
Financial services: 2.92% | ||||||
Flywire Corp.† | 151,602 | 4,834,588 | ||||
I3 Verticals, Inc. Class A† | 26,153 | 552,874 | ||||
Shift4 Payments, Inc. Class A† | 46,727 | 2,587,274 | ||||
7,974,736 | ||||||
Insurance: 5.82% | ||||||
Goosehead Insurance, Inc. Class A† | 59,687 | 4,448,472 | ||||
Kinsale Capital Group, Inc. | 25,748 | 10,663,019 | ||||
Skyward Specialty Insurance Group, Inc.† | 29,500 | 807,120 | ||||
15,918,611 | ||||||
Health care: 15.53% | ||||||
Biotechnology: 2.91% | ||||||
Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.† | 18,014 | 685,253 | ||||
Immunocore Holdings PLC ADR† | 26,132 | 1,356,251 | ||||
Krystal Biotech, Inc.† | 12,930 | 1,499,880 | ||||
Vericel Corp.† | 131,166 | 4,396,684 | ||||
7,938,068 | ||||||
Health care equipment & supplies: 8.84% | ||||||
Establishment Labs Holdings, Inc.† | 30,602 | 1,501,640 | ||||
Inari Medical, Inc.† | 43,135 | 2,821,029 | ||||
iRhythm Technologies, Inc.† | 15,007 | 1,414,560 | ||||
PROCEPT BioRobotics Corp.† | 44,171 | 1,449,251 | ||||
RxSight, Inc.† | 59,364 | 1,655,662 | ||||
Shockwave Medical, Inc.† | 9,944 | 1,979,850 | ||||
SI-BONE, Inc.† | 162,724 | 3,456,258 | ||||
Tactile Systems Technology, Inc.† | 31,100 | 436,955 | ||||
TransMedics Group, Inc.† | 149,832 | 8,203,302 | ||||
Treace Medical Concepts, Inc.† | 94,883 | 1,243,916 | ||||
24,162,423 | ||||||
Health care providers & services: 2.76% | ||||||
HealthEquity, Inc.† | 36,500 | 2,666,325 | ||||
RadNet, Inc.† | 125,899 | 3,549,093 | ||||
Surgery Partners, Inc.† | 45,141 | 1,320,374 | ||||
7,535,792 | ||||||
See accompanying notes to portfolio of investments
2 | Allspring VT Small Cap Growth Fund
Portfolio of investments—September 30, 2023 (unaudited)
Shares | Value | |||||
Pharmaceuticals: 1.02% | ||||||
Axsome Therapeutics, Inc.† | 25,141 | $1,757,104 | ||||
Tarsus Pharmaceuticals, Inc.† | 57,600 | 1,023,552 | ||||
2,780,656 | ||||||
Industrials: 22.01% | ||||||
Aerospace & defense: 1.05% | ||||||
Hexcel Corp. | 43,903 | 2,859,841 | ||||
Building products: 2.84% | ||||||
AZEK Co., Inc.† | 119,873 | 3,565,023 | ||||
Zurn Elkay Water Solutions Corp. | 150,177 | 4,207,960 | ||||
7,772,983 | ||||||
Commercial services & supplies: 3.12% | ||||||
Casella Waste Systems, Inc. Class A† | 88,759 | 6,772,312 | ||||
Cimpress PLC† | 24,928 | 1,745,209 | ||||
8,517,521 | ||||||
Construction & engineering: 1.46% | ||||||
Comfort Systems USA, Inc. | 11,400 | 1,942,674 | ||||
Construction Partners, Inc. Class A† | 56,289 | 2,057,926 | ||||
4,000,600 | ||||||
Electrical equipment: 2.46% | ||||||
Array Technologies, Inc.† | 81,700 | 1,812,923 | ||||
NEXTracker, Inc. Class A† | 21,479 | 862,597 | ||||
Shoals Technologies Group, Inc. Class A† | 221,256 | 4,037,922 | ||||
6,713,442 | ||||||
Ground transportation: 2.33% | ||||||
ArcBest Corp. | 31,328 | 3,184,491 | ||||
Marten Transport Ltd. | 118,393 | 2,333,526 | ||||
Saia, Inc.† | 2,103 | 838,361 | ||||
6,356,378 | ||||||
Machinery: 2.91% | ||||||
ESCO Technologies, Inc. | 8,100 | 845,964 | ||||
SPX Technologies, Inc.† | 87,126 | 7,092,056 | ||||
7,938,020 | ||||||
Professional services: 2.42% | ||||||
ASGN, Inc.† | 19,341 | 1,579,773 | ||||
Paycor HCM, Inc.† | 220,771 | 5,040,202 | ||||
6,619,975 | ||||||
Trading companies & distributors: 3.42% | ||||||
Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. | 36,765 | 5,684,237 | ||||
SiteOne Landscape Supply, Inc.† | 22,401 | 3,661,443 | ||||
9,345,680 | ||||||
See accompanying notes to portfolio of investments
Allspring VT Small Cap Growth Fund | 3
Portfolio of investments—September 30, 2023 (unaudited)
Shares | Value | |||||
Information technology: 31.21% | ||||||
Communications equipment: 2.11% | ||||||
Calix, Inc.† | 70,997 | $3,254,502 | ||||
Extreme Networks, Inc.† | 103,838 | 2,513,918 | ||||
5,768,420 | ||||||
Electronic equipment, instruments & components: 2.81% | ||||||
Novanta, Inc.† | 53,457 | 7,667,872 | ||||
IT services: 1.00% | ||||||
Wix.com Ltd.† | 29,800 | 2,735,640 | ||||
Semiconductors & semiconductor equipment: 6.59% | ||||||
ACM Research, Inc. Class A† | 64,000 | 1,158,720 | ||||
Aehr Test Systems† | 39,534 | 1,806,704 | ||||
Allegro MicroSystems, Inc.† | 88,316 | 2,820,813 | ||||
Diodes, Inc.† | 53,625 | 4,227,795 | ||||
PDF Solutions, Inc.† | 20,627 | 668,315 | ||||
Silicon Laboratories, Inc.† | 24,406 | 2,828,411 | ||||
SiTime Corp.† | 39,255 | 4,484,884 | ||||
17,995,642 | ||||||
Software: 18.70% | ||||||
Braze, Inc. Class A† | 67,044 | 3,132,966 | ||||
Clearwater Analytics Holdings, Inc. Class A† | 208,707 | 4,036,393 | ||||
CyberArk Software Ltd.† | 44,640 | 7,310,693 | ||||
Descartes Systems Group, Inc.† | 11,600 | 851,208 | ||||
DoubleVerify Holdings, Inc.† | 55,000 | 1,537,250 | ||||
EngageSmart, Inc.† | 93,261 | 1,677,766 | ||||
Five9, Inc.† | 85,867 | 5,521,248 | ||||
JFrog Ltd.† | 145,920 | 3,700,531 | ||||
PowerSchool Holdings, Inc. Class A† | 102,285 | 2,317,778 | ||||
Sprinklr, Inc. Class A† | 142,486 | 1,972,006 | ||||
Sprout Social, Inc. Class A† | 74,969 | 3,739,454 | ||||
SPS Commerce, Inc.† | 61,590 | 10,507,870 | ||||
Varonis Systems, Inc.† | 44,800 | 1,368,192 | ||||
Workiva, Inc.† | 33,800 | 3,425,292 | ||||
51,098,647 | ||||||
Materials: 1.26% | ||||||
Metals & mining: 1.26% | ||||||
ATI, Inc.† | 83,591 | 3,439,770 | ||||
Total common stocks (Cost $247,347,919) | 269,802,663 | |||||
See accompanying notes to portfolio of investments
4 | Allspring VT Small Cap Growth Fund
Portfolio of investments—September 30, 2023 (unaudited)
Yield | Shares | Value | ||||
Short-term investments: 1.44% | ||||||
Investment companies: 1.44% | ||||||
Allspring Government Money Market Fund Select Class♠∞ | 5.27 % | 3,934,651 | $3,934,651 | |||
Total short-term investments (Cost $3,934,651) | 3,934,651 | |||||
Total investments in securities (Cost $251,282,570) | 100.20 % | 273,737,314 | ||||
Other assets and liabilities, net | (0.20 ) | (536,568 ) | ||||
Total net assets | 100.00 % | $273,200,746 | ||||
† | Non-income-earning security |
♠ | The issuer of the security is an affiliated person of the Fund as defined in the Investment Company Act of 1940. |
∞ | The rate represents the 7-day annualized yield at period end. |
Abbreviations: | |
ADR | American depositary receipt |
Investments in affiliates
An affiliated investment is an investment in which the Fund owns at least 5% of the outstanding voting shares of the issuer or as a result of other relationships, such as the Fund and the issuer having the same investment manager. Transactions with issuers that were affiliates of the Fund at the end of the period were as follows:
Value, beginning of period | Purchases | Sales proceeds | Net realized gains (losses) | Net change in unrealized gains (losses) | Value, end of period | Shares, end of period | Income from affiliated securities | |
Short-term investments | ||||||||
Allspring Government Money Market Fund Select Class | $4,239,144 | $82,338,935 | $(82,643,428 ) | $0 | $0 | $3,934,651 | 3,934,651 | $230,856 |
Investments in affiliates no longer held at end of period | ||||||||
Securities Lending Cash Investments LLC | 2,138,297 | 9,115,875 | (11,254,178 ) | 78 | (72 ) | 0 | 0 | 7,951 1 |
$78 | $(72 ) | $3,934,651 | $238,807 |
1 | Amount shown represents income before fees and rebates. |
See accompanying notes to portfolio of investments
Allspring VT Small Cap Growth Fund | 5
Notes to portfolio of investments—September 30, 2023 (unaudited)
Notes to portfolio of investments
Securities valuation
All investments are valued each business day as of the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (generally 4 p.m. Eastern Time), although the Fund may deviate from this calculation time under unusual or unexpected circumstances.
Equity securities and exchange-traded funds that are listed on a foreign or domestic exchange or market are valued at the official closing price or, if none, the last sales price.
Investments in registered open-end investment companies (other than those listed on a foreign or domestic exchange or market) are valued at net asset value.
Investments which are not valued using the methods discussed above are valued at their fair value, as determined in good faith by Allspring Funds Management, LLC (“Allspring Funds Management”), which was named the valuation designee by the Board of Trustees. As the valuation designee, Allspring Funds Management is responsible for day-to-day valuation activities for the Allspring Funds. In connection with these responsibilities, Allspring Funds Management has established a Valuation Committee and has delegated to it the authority to take any actions regarding the valuation of portfolio securities that the Valuation Committee deems necessary or appropriate, including determining the fair value of portfolio securities. On a quarterly basis, the Board of Trustees receives reports of valuation actions taken by the Valuation Committee. On at least an annual basis, the Board of Trustees receives an assessment of the adequacy and effectiveness of Allspring Funds Management’s process for determining the fair value of the portfolio of investments.
Securities lending
During the period, the Fund participated in a program to lend its securities from time to time in order to earn additional income in the form of fees or interest on securities received as collateral or the investment of any cash received as collateral. When securities were on loan, the Fund received interest or dividends on those securities. Cash collateral received in connection with its securities lending transactions was invested in Securities Lending Cash Investments, LLC (the “Securities Lending Fund”), an affiliated non-registered investment company. Interests in the non-registered investment company that were redeemable at net asset value were fair valued normally at net asset value. Effective at the close of business on March 29, 2023, the Fund is no longer participating in the securities lending program and the Securities Lending Fund was liquidated. Securities Lending Fund was managed by Allspring Funds Management and was subadvised by Allspring Global Investments, LLC, an affiliate of Allspring Funds Management and wholly owned subsidiary of Allspring Global Investments Holdings, LLC.
Fair valuation measurements
Fair value measurements of investments are determined within a framework that has established a fair value hierarchy based upon the various data inputs utilized in determining the value of the Fund’s investments. The three-level hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3). The Fund’s investments are classified within the fair value hierarchy based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. The inputs are summarized into three broad levels as follows:
•Level 1 – quoted prices in active markets for identical securities
•Level 2 – other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar securities, interest rates, prepayment speeds, credit risk, etc.)
•Level 3 – significant unobservable inputs (including the Fund’s own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments)
The inputs or methodologies used for valuing investments in securities are not necessarily an indication of the risk associated with investing in those securities.
6 | Allspring VT Small Cap Growth Fund
Notes to portfolio of investments—September 30, 2023 (unaudited)
The following is a summary of the inputs used in valuing the Fund’s assets and liabilities as of September 30, 2023:
Quoted prices (Level 1) | Other significant observable inputs (Level 2) | Significant unobservable inputs (Level 3) | Total | |
Assets | ||||
Investments in: | ||||
Common stocks | ||||
Communication services | $1,585,967 | $0 | $0 | $1,585,967 |
Consumer discretionary | 28,284,788 | 0 | 0 | 28,284,788 |
Consumer staples | 19,911,939 | 0 | 0 | 19,911,939 |
Energy | 4,879,252 | 0 | 0 | 4,879,252 |
Financials | 23,893,347 | 0 | 0 | 23,893,347 |
Health care | 42,416,939 | 0 | 0 | 42,416,939 |
Industrials | 60,124,440 | 0 | 0 | 60,124,440 |
Information technology | 85,266,221 | 0 | 0 | 85,266,221 |
Materials | 3,439,770 | 0 | 0 | 3,439,770 |
Short-term investments | ||||
Investment companies | 3,934,651 | 0 | 0 | 3,934,651 |
Total assets | $273,737,314 | $0 | $0 | $273,737,314 |
Additional sector, industry or geographic detail, if any, is included in the Portfolio of Investments.
For the nine months ended September 30, 2023, the Fund did not have any transfers into/out of Level 3.
Allspring VT Small Cap Growth Fund | 7