This example is intended to help you compare the cost of investing in shares of the Fund with the cost of investing in other mutual funds. The example assumes that you invest $10,000 in the Fund for the time periods indicated and then redeem all your shares at the end of those periods. The example also assumes that your investment has a 5% return each year and that the Fund’s operating expenses, before fee waivers and/or expense reimbursements, remain the same. The example assumes that the Fund’s fee waiver and/or expense reimbursement arrangements will each remain in place for the durations noted in the table above. Although your actual costs may be higher or lower, based on these assumptions your costs would be:

Under normal circumstances, the Fund invests at least 80% of its assets in small-cap equity securities. For these purposes, “equity securities” include equity securities of any type, including common stocks; preferred securities; warrants to purchase common stocks and preferred securities; convertible debt securities that are either in the money or immediately convertible into common stocks or preferred securities; common and preferred securities issued by master limited partnerships and real estate investment trusts; depositary receipts; and other securities with equity characteristics. In seeking a favorable long-term total return, the Fund will invest in securities that the Fund’s sub-adviser, Nuveen Asset Management, LLC (“Nuveen Asset Management”), believes have favorable prospects for significant long-term capital appreciation potential. A “small-cap” equity security is a security within the capitalization range of the companies included in the Fund’s benchmark index, the Russell 2000^® Index. The market capitalization range is determined based on the companies in the index as of the last business day of the month in which the index was most recently reconstituted and may be updated to reflect any changes to the index composition and the market capitalization of companies in the index. The Fund invests primarily in equity securities of smaller domestic companies across a wide range of sectors, growth rates and valuations. For purposes of the 80% investment policy, the term “assets” means net assets, plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes.

The Fund seeks to add incremental return over its stated benchmark index, while also managing the relative risk of the Fund versus its benchmark index. Nuveen Asset Management uses proprietary quantitative models, or models utilizing econometric and mathematical techniques, based on financial and investment theories to evaluate and score a broad universe of stocks in which the Fund invests. These models typically weigh many different variables, including the valuation of the individual stock versus the market or its peers, future earnings and sustainable growth prospects, and the price and volume trends of the stock. The score is used to form the portfolio and the following additional inputs may also be considered: weightings of the stock and its corresponding sector in the benchmark, correlations between the performance of the stocks in the universe, and trading costs. The Fund may purchase foreign securities and securities issued in connection with reorganizations and other special situations.

The overall goal is to build a portfolio of stocks that generate a favorable long-term total return, while also managing the relative risk of the Fund versus its benchmark index. The Fund may also purchase and sell futures, options, swaps and other equity derivatives to carry out the Fund’s investment strategies. The Fund’s strategy is based upon Nuveen Asset Management’s understanding of the interplay of market factors and does not assure the Fund will perform as intended. The markets or the prices of individual securities may be affected by factors not taken into account in Nuveen Asset Management’s analysis.

The following chart and table help illustrate some of the risks of investing in the Fund by showing changes in the Fund’s performance from year to year. The bar chart shows the annual total returns of Class R6 of the Fund, before taxes, in each full calendar year for the last ten years. Because the expenses vary across share classes, the performance of Class R6 may vary from the other share classes. Below the bar chart are the best and worst returns of Class R6 for a calendar quarter during the full calendar-year periods covered by the bar chart. The performance table following the bar chart shows the Fund’s average annual total returns for Class R6, Class I, Premier Class, Retirement Class, Class A and Class W over the applicable one-year, five-year, ten-year and since-inception periods ended December 31, 2025, and how those returns compare to those of the Fund’s broad-based securities market index and benchmark index. For periods prior to August 1, 2026, Teachers Advisors, LLC (“Advisors”) served as investment adviser to the Fund. After-tax performance is shown only for Class R6 shares, and after-tax returns for the other classes of shares will vary from the after-tax returns presented for Class R6 shares.

The returns shown below reflect previous agreements by Advisors, the Fund’s prior investment adviser, to waive or reimburse the Fund for certain fees and expenses. Without these waivers and reimbursements, the returns of the Fund would have been lower. Past performance of the Fund (before and after taxes) is not necessarily an indication of how it will perform in the future. The broad-based securities market index and benchmark index listed below are unmanaged, and you cannot invest directly in an index. The returns for the broad-based securities market index and benchmark index reflect no deduction for fees, expenses or taxes.

For current performance information of each share class, including performance to the most recent month-end, please visit www.nuveen.com/performance or call 800-257-8787.

Principal investment risks

You could lose money over short or long periods by investing in this Fund. An investment in the Fund, due to the nature of the Fund’s portfolio holdings, typically is subject to the following principal investment risks:

· Market Risk—The risk that market prices of portfolio investments held by the Fund may fluctuate rapidly or unpredictably due to a variety of factors, including responses to government actions or interventions, or changing economic, political or market conditions. Market risk may affect a single issuer, industry or sector of the economy, or it may affect the market as a whole. Such conditions may add significantly to the risk of volatility in the net asset value (“NAV”) of the Fund’s shares and adversely affect the Fund and its investments. From time to time, the Fund may invest a significant portion of its assets in companies in one or more related sectors or industries, which would make the Fund more vulnerable to adverse developments affecting such sectors or industries. The Fund currently invests a significant portion of its assets in companies in the health care sector, although this may change over time.

· Small-Cap Risk—The risk that the stocks of small-capitalization companies often experience greater price volatility than large- or mid-sized companies because small-cap companies are often newer or less established than larger companies and are likely to have more limited resources, products and markets. Securities of small-cap companies often have lower overall liquidity than securities of larger companies as a result of there being a smaller market for their securities, which can have an adverse effect on the pricing of these securities and on the ability to sell these securities when Nuveen Asset Management deems it appropriate.

· Active Management Risk—The risk that Nuveen Asset Management’s strategy, investment selection or trading execution may cause the Fund to

underperform relative to the benchmark index or mutual funds with similar investment objectives and/or strategies and may not produce the desired results or expected returns.

· Foreign Investment Risk—Foreign markets can be more volatile than the U.S. market due to increased risks of adverse issuer, political, regulatory, currency, market or economic developments as well as armed conflicts and can result in greater price volatility and perform differently from financial instruments of U.S. issuers. This risk may be heightened in emerging or developing markets. Foreign investments may also have lower liquidity and be more difficult to value than investments in U.S. issuers. Foreign investments may also be subject to risk of loss because of more or less foreign government regulation, less public information, less stringent investor protections and less stringent accounting, corporate governance, financial reporting and disclosure standards. Changes in the value of foreign currencies may make the return on an investment increase or decrease, unrelated to the quality or performance of the investment itself. The imposition of sanctions, exchange controls (including repatriation restrictions), confiscations, trade restrictions (including tariffs) and other restrictions by the United States or other governments may also negatively impact the Fund’s investments. Economic sanctions and other similar governmental actions or developments could, among other things, effectively restrict or eliminate the Fund’s ability to purchase or sell certain foreign securities or groups of foreign securities, and/or thus may make the Fund’s investments in such securities less liquid (or illiquid) or more difficult to value. The type and severity of sanctions and other measures that may be imposed could vary broadly in scope, and their impact is impossible to predict.

· Illiquid Investments Risk—The risk that illiquid investments may be difficult to sell for the value at which they are carried, if at all, or at any price within the desired time frame.