Putnam VT Small Cap Growth Fund
The fund's portfolio
9/30/22 (Unaudited)


COMMON STOCKS (97.5%)(a)
        Shares Value
Auto components (0.6%)
Dorman Products, Inc.(NON) 1,905 $156,439

156,439
Banks (2.1%)
Bancorp, Inc. (The)(NON) 9,275 203,865
ServisFirst Bancshares, Inc.(S) 4,025 322,000

525,865
Beverages (0.4%)
Celsius Holdings, Inc.(NON) 1,015 92,040

92,040
Biotechnology (8.1%)
Apellis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.(NON) 3,235 220,951
Ascendis Pharma A/S ADR (Denmark)(NON)(S) 1,535 158,504
Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Co., Ltd.(NON) 2,485 375,657
Cytokinetics, Inc.(NON) 6,525 316,136
Denali Therapeutics, Inc.(NON) 2,005 61,533
Halozyme Therapeutics, Inc.(NON)(S) 10,120 400,145
Insmed, Inc.(NON) 7,585 163,381
Intellia Therapeutics, Inc.(NON) 1,670 93,453
IVERIC bio, Inc.(NON) 3,600 64,584
Xenon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Canada)(NON) 3,955 142,776

1,997,120
Building products (0.6%)
Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. 1,180 146,757

146,757
Capital markets (0.6%)
Hamilton Lane, Inc. Class A 2,635 157,072

157,072
Chemicals (1.1%)
Livent Corp.(NON) 5,445 166,889
Perimeter Solutions SA (Luxembourg)(NON)(S) 12,908 103,393

270,282
Commercial services and supplies (3.0%)
Casella Waste Systems, Inc. Class A(NON) 5,675 433,513
Montrose Environmental Group, Inc.(NON) 8,923 300,259

733,772
Communications equipment (0.3%)
Clearfield, Inc.(NON) 760 79,526

79,526
Construction and engineering (4.2%)
Dycom Industries, Inc.(NON) 1,265 120,845
EMCOR Group, Inc. 2,345 270,801
WillScot Mobile Mini Holdings Corp.(NON) 15,902 641,328

1,032,974
Electronic equipment, instruments, and components (1.3%)
Novanta, Inc.(NON)(S) 2,865 331,337

331,337
Energy equipment and services (1.8%)
ChampionX Corp. 13,005 254,508
Liberty Energy, Inc.(NON) 14,541 184,380

438,888
Equity real estate investment trusts (REITs) (1.3%)
Phillips Edison & Co., Inc. 4,050 113,603
Ryman Hospitality Properties, Inc.(NON) 2,750 202,373

315,976
Food and staples retailing (3.0%)
BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings, Inc.(NON) 6,555 477,270
Performance Food Group Co.(NON) 6,125 263,069

740,339
Food products (0.5%)
Simply Good Foods Co. (The)(NON) 4,050 129,560

129,560
Health-care equipment and supplies (9.3%)
AtriCure, Inc.(NON) 2,515 98,337
Axonics, Inc.(NON) 3,965 279,295
InMode, Ltd. (Israel)(NON)(S) 13,949 406,055
Lantheus Holdings, Inc.(NON) 9,265 651,607
Merit Medical Systems, Inc.(NON)(S) 6,550 370,141
Omnicell, Inc.(NON) 1,415 123,147
Shockwave Medical, Inc.(NON) 875 243,311
STAAR Surgical Co.(NON) 1,820 128,401

2,300,294
Health-care providers and services (3.7%)
Option Care Health, Inc.(NON) 13,160 414,145
R1 RCM, Inc.(NON) 27,133 502,774

916,919
Health-care technology (0.3%)
Evolent Health, Inc. Class A(NON) 2,055 73,836

73,836
Hotels, restaurants, and leisure (4.5%)
Churchill Downs, Inc. 2,435 448,405
Everi Holdings, Inc.(NON) 20,310 329,428
Planet Fitness, Inc. Class A(NON) 6,050 348,843

1,126,676
Insurance (3.1%)
Kinsale Capital Group, Inc. 2,405 614,285
RLI Corp. 1,485 152,034

766,319
IT Services (3.7%)
CSG Systems International, Inc. 2,335 123,475
Perficient, Inc.(NON) 4,588 298,312
WNS Holdings, Ltd. ADR (India)(NON) 6,020 492,677

914,464
Life sciences tools and services (1.7%)
Medpace Holdings, Inc.(NON)(S) 2,695 423,573

423,573
Machinery (3.9%)
Chart Industries, Inc.(NON) 1,155 212,924
Federal Signal Corp. 7,220 269,450
RBC Bearings, Inc.(NON)(S) 2,381 494,796

977,170
Media (1.8%)
TechTarget, Inc.(NON)(S) 7,609 450,453

450,453
Metals and mining (0.4%)
MP Materials Corp.(NON) 3,900 106,470

106,470
Oil, gas, and consumable fuels (4.7%)
Chord Energy Corp. 1,410 192,846
Civitas Resources, Inc. 3,795 217,795
Magnolia Oil & Gas Corp. Class A 13,620 269,812
Matador Resources Co. 4,825 236,039
SM Energy Co. 6,570 247,098

1,163,590
Personal products (0.6%)
BellRing Brands, Inc.(NON) 7,265 149,732

149,732
Pharmaceuticals (2.2%)
Axsome Therapeutics, Inc.(NON) 3,430 153,047
Corcept Therapeutics, Inc.(NON)(S) 4,450 114,098
Harmony Biosciences Holdings, Inc.(NON) 3,500 155,015
Pacira BioSciences, Inc.(NON) 2,305 122,603

544,763
Professional services (2.9%)
ICF International, Inc. 3,450 376,119
KBR, Inc. 8,080 349,218

725,337
Real estate management and development (1.8%)
Colliers International Group, Inc. (Canada) 4,890 448,131

448,131
Road and rail (3.3%)
Saia, Inc.(NON) 1,090 207,100
TFI International, Inc. (Canada) 6,650 601,815

808,915
Semiconductors and semiconductor equipment (4.0%)
Nova, Ltd. (Israel)(NON)(S) 5,595 477,254
Onto Innovation, Inc.(NON) 4,040 258,762
Synaptics, Inc.(NON) 975 96,535
Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc.(NON) 5,907 152,105

984,656
Software (10.4%)
Descartes Systems Group, Inc. (The) (Canada)(NON) 5,650 358,945
Manhattan Associates, Inc.(NON) 4,130 549,414
Paylocity Holding Corp.(NON) 1,205 291,104
Progress Software Corp. 4,001 170,243
Rapid7, Inc.(NON) 1,755 75,290
SPS Commerce, Inc.(NON) 3,425 425,488
Tenable Holdings, Inc.(NON) 3,950 137,460
Verra Mobility Corp.(NON)(S) 35,943 552,444
Vertex, Inc. Class A(NON) 925 12,645

2,573,033
Specialty retail (4.4%)
Boot Barn Holdings, Inc.(NON) 7,018 410,272
Five Below, Inc.(NON)(S) 3,160 435,037
Murphy USA, Inc. 855 235,048

1,080,357
Thrifts and mortgage finance (0.4%)
Walker & Dunlop, Inc. 1,153 96,541

96,541
Trading companies and distributors (1.5%)
Applied Industrial Technologies, Inc. 3,665 376,683

376,683

Total common stocks (cost $21,228,390) $24,155,859









SHORT-TERM INVESTMENTS (20.6%)(a)
        Shares Value
Putnam Cash Collateral Pool, LLC 3.06%(AFF) 4,284,094 $4,284,094
Putnam Short Term Investment Fund Class P 3.11%(AFF) 814,098 814,098

Total short-term investments (cost $5,098,192) $5,098,192
TOTAL INVESTMENTS

Total investments (cost $26,326,582) $29,254,051













Key to holding's abbreviations
ADR American Depository Receipts: Represents ownership of foreign securities on deposit with a custodian bank.
Notes to the fund's portfolio
Unless noted otherwise, the notes to the fund's portfolio are for the close of the fund's reporting period, which ran from January 1, 2022 through September 30, 2022 (the reporting period). Within the following notes to the portfolio, references to "Putnam Management" represent Putnam Investment Management, LLC, the fund's manager, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Putnam Investments, LLC, references to "ASC 820" represent Accounting Standards Codification 820 Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures and references to "OTC", if any, represent over-the-counter.
(a) Percentages indicated are based on net assets of $24,774,280.
(NON) This security is non-income-producing.
(AFF) Affiliated company. For investments in Putnam Cash Collateral Pool, LLC and Putnam Short Term Investment Fund, the rate quoted in the security description is the annualized 7-day yield of the fund at the close of the reporting period. Transactions during the period with any company which is under common ownership or control were as follows:
Name of affiliate Fair value
as of
12/31/21
Purchase
cost
Sale
proceeds
Investment
income
Shares outstanding
and fair
value as of
9/30/22
Short-term investments
Putnam Cash Collateral Pool, LLC*# $2,143,385 $17,428,586 $15,287,877 $19,523 $4,284,094
Putnam Short Term Investment Fund** 280,216 4,374,946 3,841,064 3,640 814,098





Total Short-term investments $2,423,601 $21,803,532 $19,128,941 $23,163 $5,098,192
* The fund may lend securities, through its agent, to qualified borrowers in order to earn additional income. The loans are collateralized by cash in an amount at least equal to the fair value of the securities loaned. The fair value of securities loaned is determined daily and any additional required collateral is allocated to the fund on the next business day. The remaining maturities of the securities lending transactions are considered overnight and continuous. The risk of borrower default will be borne by the fund’s agent; the fund will bear the risk of loss with respect to the investment of the cash collateral. The fund receives cash collateral, which is invested in Putnam Cash Collateral Pool, LLC, a limited liability company managed by an affiliate of Putnam Management. Investments in Putnam Cash Collateral Pool, LLC are valued at its closing net asset value each business day. There are no management fees charged to Putnam Cash Collateral Pool, LLC and there were no realized or unrealized gains or losses during the period.
# At the close of the reporting period, the fund received cash collateral of $4,284,094 for securities loaned. The rate quoted in the security description is the annualized 7-day yield at the close of the reporting period. At the close of the reporting period, the value of securities loaned amounted to $4,170,161.
** Management fees charged to Putnam Short Term Investment Fund have been waived by Putnam Management. There were no realized or unrealized gains or losses during the period.
(S) This security is on loan, in part or in entirety, at the close of the reporting period.
Security valuation: Portfolio securities and other investments are valued using policies and procedures adopted by the Board of Trustees. The Trustees have formed a Pricing Committee to oversee the implementation of these procedures and have delegated responsibility for valuing the fund’s assets in accordance with these procedures to Putnam Management. Putnam Management has established an internal Valuation Committee that is responsible for making fair value determinations, evaluating the effectiveness of the pricing policies of the fund and reporting to the Pricing Committee.
Investments for which market quotations are readily available are valued at the last reported sales price on their principal exchange, or official closing price for certain markets, and are classified as Level 1 securities under ASC 820. If no sales are reported, as in the case of some securities that are traded OTC, a security is valued at its last reported bid price and is generally categorized as a Level 2 security.
Investments in open-end investment companies (excluding exchange-traded funds), if any, which can be classified as Level 1 or Level 2 securities, are valued based on their net asset value. The net asset value of such investment companies equals the total value of their assets less their liabilities and divided by the number of their outstanding shares.
Many securities markets and exchanges outside the U.S. close prior to the scheduled close of the New York Stock Exchange and therefore the closing prices for securities in such markets or on such exchanges may not fully reflect events that occur after such close but before the scheduled close of the New York Stock Exchange. Accordingly, on certain days, the fund will fair value certain foreign equity securities taking into account multiple factors including movements in the U.S. securities markets, currency valuations and comparisons to the valuation of American Depository Receipts, exchange-traded funds and futures contracts. The foreign equity securities, which would generally be classified as Level 1 securities, will be transferred to Level 2 of the fair value hierarchy when they are valued at fair value. The number of days on which fair value prices will be used will depend on market activity and it is possible that fair value prices will be used by the fund to a significant extent. Securities quoted in foreign currencies, if any, are translated into U.S. dollars at the current exchange rate. Short-term securities with remaining maturities of 60 days or less are valued using an independent pricing service approved by the Trustees, and are classified as Level 2 securities.
To the extent a pricing service or dealer is unable to value a security or provides a valuation that Putnam Management does not believe accurately reflects the security's fair value, the security will be valued at fair value by Putnam Management in accordance with policies and procedures approved by the Trustees. Certain investments, including certain restricted and illiquid securities and derivatives, are also valued at fair value following procedures approved by the Trustees. These valuations consider such factors as significant market or specific security events such as interest rate or credit quality changes, various relationships with other securities, discount rates, U.S. Treasury, U.S. swap and credit yields, index levels, convexity exposures, recovery rates, sales and other multiples and resale restrictions. These securities are classified as Level 2 or as Level 3 depending on the priority of the significant inputs.
To assess the continuing appropriateness of fair valuations, the Valuation Committee reviews and affirms the reasonableness of such valuations on a regular basis after considering all relevant information that is reasonably available. Such valuations and procedures are reviewed periodically by the Trustees. The fair value of securities is generally determined as the amount that the fund could reasonably expect to realize from an orderly disposition of such securities over a reasonable period of time. By its nature, a fair value price is a good faith estimate of the value of a security in a current sale and does not reflect an actual market price, which may be different by a material amount.









ASC 820 establishes a three-level hierarchy for disclosure of fair value measurements. The valuation hierarchy is based upon the transparency of inputs to the valuation of the fund's investments. The three levels are defined as follows:
Level 1: Valuations based on quoted prices for identical securities in active markets.
Level 2: Valuations based on quoted prices in markets that are not active or for which all significant inputs are observable, either directly or indirectly.
Level 3: Valuations based on inputs that are unobservable and significant to the fair value measurement.
The following is a summary of the inputs used to value the fund's net assets as of the close of the reporting period:
  Valuation inputs
Investments in securities: Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
Common stocks*:
Communication services $450,453 $— $—
Consumer discretionary 2,363,472
Consumer staples 1,111,671
Energy 1,602,478
Financials 1,545,797
Health care 6,256,505
Industrials 4,801,608
Information technology 4,883,016
Materials 376,752
Real estate 764,107



Total common stocks 24,155,859
Short-term investments 5,098,192



Totals by level $24,155,859 $5,098,192 $—
* Common stock classifications are presented at the sector level, which may differ from the fund's portfolio presentation.
For additional information regarding the fund please see the fund's most recent annual or semiannual shareholder report filed on the Securities and Exchange Commission's Web site, www.sec.gov, or visit Putnam's Individual Investor Web site at www.putnaminvestments.com