As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 21, 2025

File No. 033-05033

File No. 811-04642

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, DC 20549

FORM N-1A

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Under the SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

Pre-Effective Amendment No.     ☐

Post-Effective Amendment No. 94     ☒

and/or

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Under the INVESTMENT COMPANY ACT OF 1940

Pre-Effective Amendment No.   ☐

Post-Effective Amendment No. 95   ☒

(Check appropriate box or boxes)

Virtus Variable Insurance Trust

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in Charter)
One Financial Plaza Hartford, CT 06103
(Address of Principal Executive Offices) (Zip Code)

Registrant’s Telephone Number, including Area Code: (800) 367-5877

Jennifer S. Fromm, Esq.
Vice President and Senior Counsel
Virtus Investment Partners, Inc.
One Financial Plaza
Hartford, Connecticut 06103

(Name and Address of Agent for Service)
Copies of All Correspondence to:
Mark D. Perlow Esq.
Dechert LLP
45 Fremont Street, 26^th Floor
San Francisco, CA 94105

It is proposed that this filing will become effective (check appropriate box):

If appropriate, check the following box:

☐ This post-effective amendment designates a new effective date for a previously filed post-effective amendment.

April 28, 2025

Virtus Duff & Phelps Real Estate Securities Series

Class A Shares

Class I Shares

Table of Contents

Series Summary

Investment Objective

Fees and Expenses

Example

Portfolio Turnover

Investments, Risks and Performance

Principal Investment Strategies

Performance Information

Average Annual Total Returns (for the periods ended 12/31/2024)

Management

The Series’ investment adviser is Virtus Investment Advisers, LLC (formerly known as Virtus Investment Advisers, Inc.) (“VIA”).

The Series’ subadviser is Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. (“Duff & Phelps”), an affiliate of VIA.

Portfolio Management

The following individuals are jointly and primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Series’ portfolio.

> Geoffrey P. Dybas, CFA, Executive Managing Director, Global Real Estate Securities team head and Senior Portfolio Manager at Duff & Phelps. Mr. Dybas has served as a Portfolio Manager of the Series since 2007.

> Frank J. Haggerty, Jr., CFA, Senior Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager at Duff & Phelps. Mr. Haggerty has served as a Portfolio Manager of the Series since 2007.

Purchase and Sale of Series Shares

The Series does not offer its shares to the general public. The Series currently offers shares only to the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. Virtus Variable Insurance Trust (the “Trust”), of which the Series is a separate investment portfolio, has entered into an agreement with the insurance company sponsor of each separate account (participation agreement) setting forth the terms and conditions pursuant to which the insurance company will purchase and redeem shares of the Series. For information concerning the purchase of units of the separate accounts, see the variable contract prospectus.

Tax Information

Since the separate accounts are the only shareholders of the Series, no discussion is included herein as to the federal income tax consequences at the shareholder level. For information concerning the federal income tax consequences to the purchasers of variable contracts, see the variable contract prospectus which describes the particular separate account and variable contract.

Payments to Insurance Companies and Other Financial Intermediaries

Series shares are generally available only through intermediaries, i.e., the separate accounts. The Series (and/or its related companies) may pay the insurance companies (and/or their related companies) for distribution and/or other services; some of the payments may, in turn, go to broker-dealers and other financial intermediaries. For example, the Series may make payments for sub-transfer agency services to one or more of the insurance companies. Such payments may create a conflict of interest for an intermediary by influencing the intermediary’s investment recommendations, or be a factor in the insurance company’s decision to include the Series as an underlying investment option in a variable contract. Ask your salesperson or review your variable contract prospectus for more information.

Under normal circumstances, the Series invests at least 80% of its assets in publicly-traded real estate investment trusts (REITs) and companies that are principally engaged in the real estate industry. For this policy, “assets” means net assets plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes. An issuer is considered principally engaged in the real estate industry for this purpose if at least 50% of its gross revenues or net profits come from the ownership, development, construction, financing, management or sale of real estate. The Series, however, does not make direct investments in real estate. The Series’ policy of investing 80% of its assets in real estate related securities may be changed only upon 60 days’ written notice to shareholders.

The Series concentrates its assets in the real estate industry.

The Series invests principally in equity REITs. Generally, REITs are publicly-traded companies that manage portfolios of real estate to earn profits for shareholders through investments in commercial and residential real estate. Equity REITs own real estate directly. The Series may invest in issuers of any capitalization. As of December 31, 2024, the total market capitalization range of the issuers in which the Series was invested was $4.1 billion to $97.9 billion.

The subadviser uses a blended approach in its security selection process, combining a pursuit of growth and value. Securities are selected using a two-tiered screening process. First the subadviser screens the universe of eligible securities for those that it believes offer the potential for reasonably-priced initial appreciation and continued dividend growth and that show signs the issuer is an efficient user of capital. Securities that survive this screening are further evaluated based on interviews and fundamental research that focus on the issuer’s strength of management and property, financial and performance reviews.

A security may be evaluated for sale if its market value exceeds the subadviser’s estimated value, if its financial performance is expected to decline or if the subadviser believes the security’s issuer fails to adjust its strategy to the real estate market cycle.

The Series’ subadviser incorporates and integrates Environmental, Societal and Governance (“ESG”) factors into its investment analysis and decision-making processes consistent with the Series’ investment objectives and strategies. For example, such factors may include to what extent individual companies can receive a fiduciary benefit and save expenses on the use of water, waste and energy, as well as their tenant/occupier satisfaction which is helpful for maintaining occupancy, and the quality of the board, its structure, and transparency for the benefit of shareholders. The subadviser’s consideration of ESG factors is intended to improve investment outcomes and decrease risk by identifying companies believed to have better operations, the ability to attract and retain the best talent, increased customer satisfaction and market share, and other means of increasing earnings and cash flow over the long term. By incorporating ESG into its fundamental analysis, the subadviser seeks to improve its understanding of the risks and opportunities that companies face. The subadviser has access to independent, third-party ESG research through Sustainalytics, ISS and Bloomberg, and may use these sources in addition to its own research.

The Series’ investment objectives are non-fundamental, which means they may be changed without shareholder approval.

Temporary Defensive Strategy: When the subadviser believes there are extraordinary risks associated with investment in real estate related securities, the Series may take temporary defensive positions that are inconsistent with its principal investment strategies by investing up to 100% of its assets in short-term investments such as money market instruments, repurchase agreements, certificates of deposit and bankers’ acceptances. When this allocation happens, the Series may not achieve its investment objectives.

Please see “More About Principal Risks” for information about the risks of investing in the Series. Please refer to “Additional Risks Associated with Investment Techniques and Series Operations” for other investment techniques of the Series.

The Series’ investments are subject generally to market risk and the risk of selecting underperforming securities and asset classes, which may adversely affect the Series and lead to loss of principal.

Equity REIT Securities

Real estate investment trusts (“REITs”) are financial vehicles that pool investor capital to purchase or finance real estate. Equity REITs invest primarily in direct ownership or lease of real property, and they derive most of their income from rents. Equity REITs can also realize capital gains by selling properties that have appreciated in value. Investing in equity REITs and REIT-like entities involves certain unique risks in addition to those risks associated with investing in the real estate industry in general. REITs and REIT-like entities are typically small or medium market capitalization companies, and they are subject to management fees and other expenses. When the Series invests in REITs and REIT-like entities it will bear its proportionate share of the costs of the REITs’ and REIT-like entities’ operations. REITs and REIT-like entities are dependent upon management skill, may not be diversified, and are subject to heavy cash flow dependency and self-liquidation. REITs and REIT-like entities also are subject to the possibility of failing to qualify for tax-free pass-through of income. Also, because REITs and REIT-like entities typically are invested in a limited number of projects or in a particular market segment, these entities are more susceptible to adverse developments affecting a single project or market segment than more broadly diversified investments. In the event of a default by a borrower or lessee, a REIT may experience delays in enforcing its rights as a mortgagee or lessor and may incur substantial costs associated with protecting its investments. In addition, investment in REITs could cause the Series to possibly fail to qualify as a regulated investment company, depending upon the nature of dividends received by the Series.

Equity Securities

Generally, prices of equity securities are more volatile than those of fixed income securities. The prices of equity securities will rise and fall in response to a number of different factors. In particular, equity securities will respond to events that affect entire financial markets or industries (such as changes in inflation or consumer demand) and to events that affect particular issuers (such as news about the success or failure of a new product). Equity securities also are subject to “stock market risk,” meaning that stock prices in general may decline over short or extended periods of time. When the value of the stocks held by the Series goes down, the value of the Series’ shares will be affected.

 Large Market Capitalization Companies. The value of investments in larger companies may not rise as much as investments in smaller companies, and larger companies may be unable to respond quickly to competitive challenges, such as changes in technology and consumer tastes.

 Small and Medium Market Capitalization Companies. Small and medium-sized companies often have narrower markets, fewer products or services to offer, and more limited managerial and financial resources than larger, more established companies. As a result, the performance of small and medium-sized companies may be more volatile, and they may face a greater risk of business failure, which could increase the volatility and risk of loss to the Series.

Industry/Sector Concentration

The value of the investments of a Series that focuses its investments in a particular industry or market sector will be highly sensitive to financial, economic, political and other developments affecting that industry or market sector, and conditions that negatively impact that industry or market sector will have a greater impact on the Series as compared with a Series that does not have its holdings similarly concentrated. Since the Series concentrates its assets in real estate related securities, events negatively affecting the real estate industry are therefore likely to cause the value of the Series’ shares to decrease, perhaps significantly.

Market Volatility

The value of the securities in which the Series invests may go up or down in response to the prospects of individual issuers and/or general economic conditions. Such price changes may be temporary or may last for extended periods.

Instability in the financial markets may expose the Series to greater market and liquidity risk and potential difficulty in valuing portfolio instruments that it holds. In response to financial markets that experienced extreme volatility, and in some cases a lack of liquidity, the U.S. Government and other governments have taken a number of unprecedented actions, including acquiring distressed assets from financial institutions and acquiring ownership interests in those institutions. The implications of government ownership and disposition of these assets are unclear. Additional legislation or government regulation may also change the way in which the Series is regulated, which could limit or preclude the Series’ ability to achieve its investment objective. Local, regional or global events such as war or military conflict (e.g. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine), geopolitical risk, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issue, recessions, tariffs and other restrictions on trade, inflation, rapid interest rate changes, supply chain disruptions, sanctions, or the threat or potential of one or more such events and developments, could have a significant impact on the Series and its investments, hampering the ability of the Series’ portfolio manager(s) to invest the Series’ assets as intended.

Real Estate Investment

Investing in companies that invest in real estate (“Real Estate Companies”) exposes the Series to the risks of owning real estate directly, as well as to risks that relate specifically to the way in which Real Estate Companies are organized and operated. Real estate is highly sensitive to general and local economic conditions and developments, and characterized by intense competition and periodic overbuilding. Real Estate Companies may lack diversification due to ownership of a limited number of properties and concentration in a particular geographic region or property type. Risks associated with investing in Real Estate Companies include the following:

 REIT and REOC Securities. Investing in Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) and REIT-like entities involves certain unique risks in addition to those risks associated with investing in the real estate industry in general. REITs and REIT-like entities are dependent upon management skill, may not be diversified, and are subject to heavy cash flow dependency and self-liquidation. REITs and REIT-like entities also are subject to the possibility of failing to qualify for tax-free pass-through of income. Also, because REITs and REIT-like entities typically are invested in a limited number of projects or in a particular market segment, these entities are more susceptible to adverse developments affecting a single project or market segment than more broadly diversified investments. In the event of a default by a borrower or lessee, a REIT may experience delays in enforcing its rights as a mortgagee or lessor and may incur substantial costs associated with protecting its investments. In addition, investment in REITs could cause the Series to possibly fail to qualify as a regulated investment company. A Real Estate Operating Company (“REOC”) is similar to an equity REIT in that it owns and operates commercial real estate, but unlike a REIT it has the freedom to retain all its funds from operations and, in general, faces fewer restrictions than a REIT. REOCs do not pay any specific level of income as dividends, if at all, and there is no minimum restriction on the number of owners nor limits on ownership concentration. The value of a Series’ REOC securities may be adversely affected by the same factors that adversely affect REITs. In addition, a corporate REOC does not qualify for the federal tax treatment that is accorded a REIT. A Series also may experience a decline in its income from REOC securities due to falling interest rates or decreasing dividend payments.

Redemption

The redemption by one or more large variable contract owners of their holdings in the Series could have an adverse impact on the remaining variable contract owners in the Series by, for example, accelerating the realization of capital gains and/or increasing the Series’ transaction costs.

The Adviser

VIA has served as the investment adviser to the Series since November 2010. VIA, located at One Financial Plaza, Hartford, CT 06103, acts as the investment adviser for over 100 mutual funds and as adviser to institutional clients. As of December 31, 2024, VIA had approximately $44.3 billion in assets under management. VIA has acted as an investment adviser for over 80 years and is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Virtus Investment Partners, Inc., a publicly traded multi-manager asset management business.

Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement with the Series and subject to the direction of the Trust’s Board of Trustees, VIA is responsible for managing the Series’ investment program in conformity with the stated policies of the Series as described in this prospectus. VIA, with the approval of the Trust’s Board of Trustees, has selected Duff & Phelps, an affiliate of VIA, to serve as subadviser and perform the day-to-day portfolio management of the Series. Duff & Phelps, subject to the supervision of VIA, is responsible for deciding which securities to purchase and sell for the Series and for placing the Series’ transactions.

The Series pays VIA an investment management fee that is accrued daily against the value of the Series’ net assets at the following annual rate:

For its last fiscal year, the Series paid advisory fees at the rate of 0.75% of its average net assets.

The Trust has entered into an expense limitation agreement with VIA whereby VIA has agreed to reimburse the Series for expenses necessary or appropriate for the operation of the Series (excluding certain expenses, such as front-end sales charges, taxes, leverage and borrowing expenses (such as commitment, amendment and renewal expenses on credit or redemption facilities), interest, brokerage commissions, expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization, unusual or infrequently occurring expenses (such as litigation), acquired fund fees and expenses, and dividend expenses, if any) to the extent that such expenses exceed 1.10% of the Series’ Class A Shares and 0.85% of the Series’ Class I Shares average net assets. This expense limitation agreement is in place through April 30, 2026. After April 30, 2026, VIA may discontinue this expense reimbursement arrangement at any time. VIA may recapture operating expenses reimbursed under an expense reimbursement arrangement for a period of three years following the date such waiver or reimbursement occurred, provided that the recapture does not cause the Series to exceed its expense limit in effect at the time of the waiver or reimbursement, and any in effect at the time of recapture, after repayment is taken into account.

VIA serves as a manager of managers of the Series. In this capacity, VIA: (i) sets the Series’ overall investment strategies; (ii) evaluates, selects, and recommends to the Board one or more subadvisers needed to manage all or part of the assets of the Series; (iii) monitors and evaluates the subadvisers’ investment programs and results as well as the performance of the subadvisers relative to the applicable benchmark indexes; and (iv) reviews the Series’ compliance with its investment objectives, policies and restrictions.

The Trust and VIA have received shareholder approval to rely on an exemptive order from the SEC that permits VIA, subject to certain conditions and without the approval of shareholders to: (a) select both unaffiliated subadvisers and certain wholly owned affiliated subadvisers to manage all or a portion of the assets of a Series, and enter into subadvisory agreements with such subadvisers; (b) materially amend subadvisory agreements with such subadvisers; and (c) continue the employment of an existing subadviser on the same subadvisory agreement terms where an agreement has been assigned because of a change in control of the subadviser. In such circumstances, shareholders would receive notice of such action, including, if applicable, instructions regarding how to obtain the information concerning the new subadviser that normally is provided in a proxy statement.

The Subadviser

Duff & Phelps, an affiliate of VIA, has served as the subadviser to the Series since August 2007, and previously served as investment adviser to the Series. Duff & Phelps acts as subadviser to mutual funds and as adviser or subadviser to closed-end funds and to institutional clients. As of December 31, 2024, Duff & Phelps managed approximatively $12.2 billion. Duff & Phelps’ offices are located at 200 S. Wacker Drive, Suite 500, Chicago, IL 60606.

From its investment advisory fee, VIA, and not the Series, pays Duff & Phelps for its subadvisory services at the rate of 50% of the net advisory fee.

Board of Trustees’ Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements

The Trust’s annual report to shareholders for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 contains a discussion regarding the basis for the Trust’s Board of Trustees’ approval of the investment advisory and investment subadvisory agreements for the Series.

Portfolio Management

Geoffrey P. Dybas, CFA. Mr. Dybas joined Duff & Phelps in 1995 and serves as Executive Managing Director, Global Real Estate Securities team head and Senior Portfolio Manager. He is Senior Portfolio Manager and co-founder for all dedicated REIT portfolios managed by Duff & Phelps, inclusive of the real estate strategies in the Virtus Opportunities Trust. Prior to joining Duff & Phelps, Mr. Dybas was a corporate banker at Bank One.

Frank J. Haggerty, Jr., CFA. Mr. Haggerty joined Duff & Phelps in 2005 and serves as Senior Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager. He is Senior Portfolio Manager for the dedicated REIT portfolios managed by Duff & Phelps, inclusive of the real estate strategies in the Virtus Opportunities Trust. Prior to joining Duff & Phelps, Mr. Haggerty was a senior analyst and portfolio manager at ABN AMRO Asset Management.

The statement of additional information (“SAI”) provides additional information about the portfolio managers’ compensation, other accounts managed by the portfolio managers and the portfolio managers’ ownership of securities in the Series.

Information about the Series’ principal investment strategies and risks appears in the Series Summary section and the sections entitled “More About Principal Investment Strategies” and “More About Principal Risks” above.

The information below describes other investment strategies that the Series may use that are not principal strategies and the risks of those strategies, arranged in alphabetical order, as well as other operational risks. Further descriptions of these investment strategies and practices can be found in the SAI. The greater an investment in a particular asset class by the Series, the greater the impact to the Series of the risks related to the class.

Convertible Securities

Convertible securities are bonds, debentures, notes, preferred stock, rights, warrants or other securities that may be converted into or exchanged for a prescribed amount of common stock or other security of the same or a different issuer or into cash within a particular period of time at a specified price or formula. A convertible security generally entitles the holder to receive interest paid or accrued on debt instruments or the dividend paid on preferred stock until the convertible security matures or is redeemed, converted or exchanged. If a convertible security is called for redemption, the Series may have to redeem the security, convert it into common stock or sell it to a third party at a price and time that is not beneficial for the Series. The value of convertible securities tends to decline

as interest rates rise and, because of the conversion feature, tends to vary with fluctuations in the market value of the underlying securities. Securities convertible into common stocks may have higher yields than common stocks but lower yields than comparable nonconvertible securities.

Cybersecurity

With the increased use of technologies such as the Internet to conduct business, the Series is potentially more susceptible to operational and information security risks through breaches in cybersecurity. In general, a breach in cybersecurity can result from either a deliberate attack or an unintentional event. Cybersecurity breaches may involve, among other things, infection by computer viruses or other malicious software code or unauthorized access to the digital information systems, networks or devices of the Series or its service providers (including, but not limited to, the Series’ investment adviser, transfer agent, custodian, administrators and other financial intermediaries) through “hacking” or other means, in each case for the purpose of misappropriating assets or sensitive information (including, for example, personal shareholder information), corrupting data or causing operational disruption or failures in the physical infrastructure or operating systems that support the Series. Any such cybersecurity breaches or losses of service may cause the Series to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity, which, in turn, could cause the Series to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures, and/or financial loss. While the Series and its service providers have established business continuity plans and risk management systems designed to prevent or reduce the impact of cybersecurity attacks, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems due in part to the ever-changing nature of technology and cybersecurity attack tactics, and there is a possibility that certain risks have not been adequately identified or prepared for. Substantial costs may be incurred in order to prevent future cybersecurity incidents. The use of cloud-based service providers could heighten or change these risks. Recently, geopolitical tensions may have increased the scale and sophistication of deliberate cybersecurity attacks, particularly those from nation-states or from entities with nation-state backing. Cybersecurity risks may also impact issuers of securities in which the Series invests, which may cause the Series’ investments in such issuers to lose value.

Derivatives and Other Similar Transactions

Derivative and other similar transactions (collectively referred to in this section as “derivatives” or “derivatives contracts”) are contracts whose value is derived from the value of an underlying asset, index or rate, including futures, options, non-deliverable forwards, foreign currency forward contracts and swap agreements. The Series may use derivatives to hedge against factors that affect the value of its investments, such as interest rates and foreign currency exchange rates. The Series may also utilize derivatives as part of its overall investment technique to gain or lessen exposure to various securities, markets, volatility, dividend payments and currencies.

Derivatives may give rise to a form of leverage which magnifies the potential for gain and the risk of loss. It is generally more difficult to ascertain the risk of, and to properly value, derivative contracts. Many derivatives, and particularly those that are privately negotiated, are complex and often valued subjectively. Improper valuations can result in increased cash payment requirements to counterparties or a loss of value to the Series. The prices of derivatives may move in unexpected ways, especially in abnormal market conditions. Derivatives are usually less liquid than traditional securities and are subject to counterparty risk (the risk that the other party to the contract will default or otherwise not be able to perform its contractual obligations). Changes in the value of a derivative may also create margin delivery or settlement payment obligations for the Series. In addition, some derivatives transactions may involve potentially unlimited losses.

The use of derivatives is also subject to operational risk which refers to risk related to potential operational issues, including documentation issues, settlement issues, system failures, inadequate controls, and human error, as well as legal risk which refers to the risk of loss resulting from insufficient documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of counterparty, or legality or enforceability of a contract.

Derivative contracts entered into for hedging purposes may also subject the Series to losses if the contracts do not correlate with the assets, indexes or rates they were designed to hedge. In regard to currency hedging using forward contracts, it is generally not possible to precisely match the foreign currency exposure of such foreign currency forward contracts to the value of the securities involved due to fluctuations in the market values of such securities and cash flows into and out of the Series between the date a foreign currency forward contract is entered into and the date it expires.

Governments, agencies and/or other regulatory bodies may adopt or change laws or regulations that could adversely affect the Series’ ability to invest in derivatives as the Series’ subadviser intends. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”), among other things, grants the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) and SEC broad rulemaking authority to implement various provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act including comprehensive regulation of the over-the-counter (“OTC”) derivatives market. Provisions in the Dodd-Frank Act include capital and margin requirements and the mandatory use of clearinghouse mechanisms for many OTC derivative transactions. The CFTC, SEC and other federal regulators have adopted rules and regulations enacting provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act. Some requirements may directly impact the Series, including, for example, the CFTC’s rules that apply an aggregation standard for position limit purposes. Other requirements, even if not directly applicable to the Series (for example, limits or requirements imposed on the Series’ transaction counterparties), may increase the cost of the Series’ investments and cost of doing business, which could adversely affect investors.

There are also special tax rules applicable to certain types of derivatives, which could affect the amount, timing and character of the Series’ income or loss and hence of its distributions to shareholders by causing holding period adjustments, converting short-term capital losses into long-term capital losses, and accelerating the Series’ income or deferring its losses. The Series’ use of derivatives may also increase the amount of taxes payable by shareholders or the resources required by the Series or its adviser and/or subadviser(s) to comply with particular regulatory requirements.

ESG Consideration

The Series’ consideration of ESG factors could cause it to perform differently compared to funds that do not use such considerations. The relevance and weightings of specific ESG factors may vary across asset classes, sectors and strategies and no one factor is determinative. ESG factors are qualitative and subjective by nature and there are significant differences in interpretations of what it means for a company to have positive or negative ESG factors. There is no guarantee that the factors utilized by the Series’ subadviser or any judgment exercised by the subadviser will reflect the opinions of any particular investor, and the factors analyzed by the subadviser may differ from the factors any particular investor considers relevant in evaluating ESG practices. When integrating ESG factors into the investment process, the subadviser may rely on third-party data that it believes to be reliable, but it does not guarantee the accuracy of such third-party data. ESG information from third-party data providers may be incomplete, inaccurate or unavailable, which may adversely impact the investment process. Moreover, the current lack of common standards may result in different approaches to integrating ESG factors. As a result, the Series may invest in companies that do not reflect the beliefs and values of any particular investor.

The ESG factors that may be evaluated as part of the Series’ investment process are anticipated to evolve over time and one or more characteristics may not be relevant with respect to all issuers that are eligible for investment. Further, the regulatory landscape with respect to ESG integration in the United States is still developing and future rules and regulations may require the Series to modify or alter its investment process with respect to ESG integration.

Exchange-Traded Funds (“ETFs”)

ETFs invest in a portfolio of securities designed to track a particular market segment or index. The risks associated with investing in ETFs generally reflect the risks of owning shares of the underlying securities the ETF is designed to track, although lack of liquidity in an ETF could result in its value being more volatile than the underlying portfolio of securities. Assets invested in ETFs incur a layering of expenses, including operating costs and advisory fees that Series shareholders indirectly bear; such expenses may exceed the expenses the Series would incur if it invested directly in the underlying portfolio of securities the ETF is designed to track. Shares of ETFs trade on a securities exchange and may trade at, above, or below their net asset value.

Illiquid and Restricted Securities

Certain securities in which the Series invests may be difficult to sell at the time and price beneficial to the Series, for example due to low trading volumes, declining prices of the securities sold, or legal restrictions. When there is no willing buyer or a security cannot be readily sold, the Series may have to sell at a lower price or may be unable to sell the security at all. The sale of such securities may also require the Series to incur expenses in addition to those normally associated with the sale of a security. In addition, issuers whose securities are not publicly traded may not be subject to the disclosure and other investor protection requirements that may be applicable if their securities were publicly traded, and as a result a Series may get only limited information about the issuer of a given restricted security making the Series potentially less able to predict a loss.

Leverage

When the Series makes investments in futures contracts, forward contracts, swaps and other derivative instruments, the futures contracts, forward contracts, swaps and certain other derivatives provide the economic effect of financial leverage by creating additional investment exposure, as well as the potential for greater loss. When the Series uses leverage through activities such as borrowing, entering into short sales, purchasing securities on a when-issued basis, or purchasing derivative instruments in an effort to increase its returns, the Series has the risk of magnified capital losses that occur when losses affect an asset base, enlarged by borrowings or the creation of liabilities, that exceeds the net assets of the Series. The value of the shares of the Series employing leverage will be more volatile and sensitive to market movements. Leverage may also involve the creation of a liability that requires the Series to pay interest.

Operational

An investment in the Series, like any mutual fund, can involve operational risks arising from factors such as processing errors, human errors, inadequate or failed internal or external processes, failures in systems and technology, changes in personnel and errors caused by third-party service providers. The occurrence of any of these failures, errors or breaches could result in a loss of information, regulatory scrutiny, reputational damage or other events, any of which could have a material adverse effect on the Series. While the Series seeks to minimize such events through controls and oversight, there may still be failures that could cause losses to the Series.

Securities Lending

The Series may loan portfolio securities with a value up to one-third of its total assets to increase its investment returns. If the borrower is unwilling or unable to return the borrowed securities when due, the lending Series can suffer losses. In addition, there is a risk of delay in receiving additional collateral or in the recovery of the securities, and a risk of loss of rights in the collateral, in the event that the borrower fails financially. There is also a risk that the value of the investment of the collateral could decline, causing a loss to the lending Series.

Short-Term Investments

Short-term investments include money market instruments, repurchase agreements, certificates of deposit and bankers’ acceptances and other short-term instruments that are not U.S. Government securities. These securities generally present less risk than many other investments, but they are generally subject to credit risk and may be subject to other risks as well.

Unrated Fixed Income Securities

The Series’ subadviser has the authority to make determinations regarding the quality of unrated fixed income securities for the purposes of assessing whether they meet the Series’ investment restrictions. However, analysis of unrated securities is more complex than that of rated securities, making it more difficult for the subadviser to accurately predict risk. Unrated fixed income securities may not be lower in quality than rated securities, but due to their perceived risk they may not have as broad a market as rated securities, making it more difficult to sell unrated securities.

U.S. and Foreign Government Obligations

Obligations issued or guaranteed by the U.S. Government, its agencies, authorities and instrumentalities and backed by the full faith and credit of the United States only guarantee principal and interest will be timely paid to holders of the securities. The entities do not guarantee that the value of Series shares will increase, and in fact, the market values of such obligations may fluctuate. In addition, not all U.S. Government securities are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States; some are the obligation solely of the entity through which they are issued. There is no guarantee that the U.S. Government would provide financial support to its agencies and instrumentalities if not required to do so by law. Foreign obligations may not be backed by the government of the issuing country, and are subject to foreign investing risks.

The Trust, on behalf of each series of the Trust, including Class A Shares of the Virtus Duff & Phelps Real Estate Securities Series, has adopted a plan pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “Distribution Plan”). The Trust has entered into an Underwriting Agreement relating to the Distribution Plan with VP Distributors, LLC (the “Distributor”) located at One Financial Plaza, Hartford, CT 06103. The Distributor is an affiliate of the adviser, and serves as principal underwriter for the Trust. The Distribution Plan permits the use of Series assets to help finance the distribution of the shares of the Series.

Under the Distribution Plan, the Trust, on behalf of each Series, is permitted to pay to the Distributor (who may in turn pay other service providers) up to a total of 0.25% of the average daily net assets of Class A of the Series, as payment for services rendered in connection with the distribution of shares. Because these fees are paid out of Series assets on an ongoing basis, over time these costs will increase the cost of your investment and may cost you more than other types of sales charges.

Organization of the Trust

The Trust was organized as a Massachusetts business trust on February 18, 1986. It was subsequently reorganized into a Delaware statutory trust on February 14, 2011. The Trust currently consists of eight series of which the Series is one. The Trust’s business and affairs are managed by its Board of Trustees.

Shares of Beneficial Interest

Shares (including fractional shares) of the Series have equal rights with regard to voting, redemptions, dividends, distributions and liquidations with respect to the Series. All voting rights of the separate accounts as shareholders are passed through to the variable contract owners. Shareholders of all series of the Trust currently vote on the election of Trustees and other matters. On matters affecting an individual series such as the Series (such as approval of an advisory or subadvisory agreement or a change in fundamental investment policies), a separate vote of that Series is required. On matters affecting an individual class (such as approval of matters relating to a Distribution Plan for a particular class of shares), a separate vote of that class is required. The Trust is not required to hold annual shareholder meetings.

Series shares attributable to any insurance company assets and Series shares for which no timely instructions from variable contract owners are received will be voted by the appropriate insurance company in the same proportion as those shares for which instructions are received.

The assets received by the Trust for the issue or sale of shares of the Series, and all income, earnings, profits and proceeds thereof, subject only to the rights of creditors, are allocated to the Series, and constitute the underlying assets of the Series. The underlying assets of the Series are required to be segregated on the books of account, and are to be charged with the expenses of the Series and with a share of the general expenses of the Trust. Any general expenses of the Trust not readily identifiable as belonging to a particular series shall be allocated by or under the direction of the Trustees in such manner as the Trustees determine to be fair and equitable.

Taxes

The Trust intends for the Series to qualify as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) by satisfying the requirements under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), including requirements with respect to diversification of assets, distribution of income, and sources of income. In general, a series that qualifies as a RIC will be relieved of federal income tax on its net investment income and net capital gains distributed to its shareholders. In addition, the Trust intends for the Series to comply with the investment diversification requirements for variable contracts contained in the Code. Moreover, the Trust intends to distribute sufficient net investment income and net capital gains of the Series to avoid imposition of any federal excise tax.

Accordingly, the Trust intends that, at the close of each quarter of the taxable year, (i) not more than 25% of the market value of the Series’ total assets will be invested in the securities of a single issuer and (ii) with respect to 50% of the market value of the Series’ total assets, not more than 5% of the market value of the Series’ total assets will be invested in the securities of a single issuer and the Series will not own more than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of a single issuer.

Actual and deemed distributions of ordinary income and net capital gains generally are taxable to the Series’ shareholders, which in this case are the separate accounts. Because the sole shareholders of the Series will be the separate accounts, no discussion is included in this prospectus as to the federal income tax consequences at the shareholder level. For information concerning the federal income tax consequences to purchasers of the variable contracts, please see the variable contract prospectuses.

Disruptive Trading and Market Timing

As an investment vehicle for variable contracts, which are designed as long-term investments, the Series is not appropriate for “market timing” or other trading strategies that entail rapid or frequent investment and trading. Frequent purchases, redemptions and transfers, transfers into and then out of the Series in a short period of time, and transfers of large amounts at one time may be indicative of market timing and otherwise disruptive trading (“Disruptive Trading”), which can have risks and harmful effects for other investors. These risks and harmful effects include:

 dilution of the interests of long-term investors, if market timers or others transfer into the Series at prices that are below the true value or exchange out of the Series at prices that are higher than the true value;

 an adverse effect on portfolio management, such as causing the Series to maintain a higher level of cash than would otherwise be the case, or causing the Series to liquidate investments prematurely; and

 increased brokerage and administrative expenses.

Funds that invest primarily in international securities may be more susceptible to pricing arbitrage opportunities because of time zone differences between the closing of international and domestic markets. Funds that invest primarily in small and mid-cap securities may be more susceptible to arbitrage opportunities because of the less liquid nature of small and mid-cap securities. In addition, funds that hold significant investments in high yield bonds may also be susceptible to market timing because high yield bonds are often thinly traded so that their market prices may not accurately reflect current market developments. To the extent that the Series invests in these types of securities, it may be more susceptible to the risks of Disruptive Trading.

In order to attempt to protect Trust investors, the Trust’s Board of Trustees has adopted market timing policies reasonably designed to discourage Disruptive Trading. The Trust reserves the right to amend these policies at any time without prior notice. Because the record owners of the Series are the insurance companies and not the variable contract owners, the Trust is not ordinarily in a position to monitor for or uncover Disruptive Trading by variable contract owners. Therefore, under the Trust’s policies, the Trust delegates to each insurance company the duty to establish and maintain policies and procedures designed to

detect, monitor and deter (including, without limitation, by rejecting specific purchase orders) investors (or their agents) whose purchase and redemption activity follows a Disruptive Trading pattern, and to take such other actions as the insurance company may deem necessary to discourage or reduce Disruptive Trading activities. An insurance company may only modify such policies and procedures if it provides reasonable notice to the Trust and the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer. Please see your variable contract prospectus for information relating to applicable restrictions on purchases or transfers through your variable contract.

The Trust may also take certain actions to stop Disruptive Trading, including imposing redemption fees for the Series and ceasing sales of additional shares of the Series to a separate account through which variable contract owners are engaging in Disruptive Trading. Because the Trust reserves discretion in applying these policies, they may not be applied uniformly. In addition, the Trust, as required under SEC regulations, has entered into an agreement with each insurance company under which the insurance companies have agreed to provide the Trust or its designee with information about variable contract owner transactions in the Series upon request.

Although the Trust will endeavor to ensure that each insurance company can and does identify and deter Disruptive Trading by its variable contract owners, the Trust cannot control their efforts or guarantee their success at deterrence. In addition, the Trust cannot guarantee that monitoring by the insurance companies and the Trust will be 100% successful in detecting all Disruptive Trading activity. Consequently, there is a risk that some investors could engage in Disruptive Trading while others will bear the effects of their Disruptive Trading activities.

Portfolio Holdings

A description of the Trust’s policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the Series’ portfolio securities is available in the SAI.

The Board of Trustees has adopted valuation policy and approved procedures for determining the value of investments of the Series. Pursuant to the valuation policy and Rule 2a-5 under the 1940 Act, the Board of Trustees has designated the Adviser as its “valuation designee” for fair value determinations.

Shares of the Series are not available to the public directly. You may invest in the Series by buying a variable accumulation annuity contract or a variable universal life insurance policy from an insurance company and directing the allocation of the net purchase payment(s) to the investment option corresponding to the Series. The appropriate insurance company will, in turn, invest payments in shares of the Series as the investor directs at the net asset value next determined.

The Series offers Class A Shares and Class I Shares. Both share classes may not be available for purchase through your variable contract. See your variable contract prospectus for a description of the available share class(es).

Sales Charge and Surrender Charges

The Series does not assess any sales charge, either when it sells or when it redeems securities. The sales charges that may be assessed under the variable contracts or policies are described in the variable contract prospectuses, as are other charges.

Determination of Net Asset Value

The Series calculates a share price for each class of its shares. The share price (net asset value or “NAV”) for each class is based on the net assets of the Series and the number of outstanding shares of that class. In general, each Series calculates a share price for each class by:

 adding the values of all securities and other assets of the Series;

 subtracting liabilities; and

 dividing the result by the total number of outstanding shares of that class.

Assets: Equity securities are valued at the official closing price (typically last sale) on the exchange on which the securities are primarily traded, or, if no closing price is available, at the last bid price. Shares of other investment companies are valued at such companies’ NAVs. Debt instruments, including restricted securities, are valued based on evaluated quotations received from independent pricing services or from dealers who make markets in such securities. Other assets, such as accrued interest, accrued dividends and cash are also included in determining the Series’ NAV. As required, some securities and assets are valued at fair value as determined by the Adviser.

Liabilities: Accrued liabilities for class-specific expenses (if any), distribution fees, service fees and other liabilities are deducted from the assets of each class. Accrued expenses and liabilities that are not class-specific (such as management fees) are allocated to each class in proportion to each class’s net assets except where an alternative allocation can be more appropriately made.

Net Asset Value (“NAV”): The liabilities allocated to a class are deducted from the proportionate interest of such class in the assets of the applicable Series. The resulting amount for each class is then divided by the number of shares outstanding of that class to produce each class’s NAV per share.

The NAV per share of each class of the Series is determined as of the close of regular trading (generally 4:00 PM Eastern Time) on days when the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) is open for trading. The Series will not calculate its NAV per share class on days when the NYSE is closed for trading. If the Series (or underlying fund, as applicable) holds securities that are traded on foreign exchanges that trade on weekends or other holidays when the Series does not price its shares, the NAV of the Series’ shares may change on days when shareholders will not be able to purchase or redeem the Series’ shares.

Fair Valuation

If market quotations are not readily available or available prices are not reliable, the Series determines a “fair value” for an investment according to policies and procedures approved by the Board of Trustees. The types of assets for which such pricing might be required include: (i) securities whose trading has been suspended; (ii) securities where the trading market is unusually thin or trades have been infrequent; (iii) debt instruments that have recently gone into default and for which there is no current market quotation; (iv) a security whose market price is not available from an independent pricing source and for which otherwise reliable quotes are not available; (v) securities of an issuer that has entered into a restructuring; (vi) a security whose price as provided by any pricing source does not, in the opinion of the adviser/subadviser, reflect the security’s market value; (vii) foreign securities subject to trading collars for which no or limited

trading takes place; (viii) securities where the market quotations are not readily available as a result of “significant” events; and (ix) securities whose principal exchange or trading market is closed for an entire business day on which the Series needs to determine its NAV. This list is not inclusive of all situations that may require a security to be fair valued, nor is it intended to be conclusive in determining whether a specific event requires fair valuation.

The value of any portfolio security held by the Series for which market quotations are not readily available shall be determined in good faith and in a manner that assesses the security’s “fair value” on the valuation date (i.e., the amount that the Series might reasonably expect to receive for the security upon its current sale), based on a consideration of all available facts and all available information, including, but not limited to, the following: (i) the fundamental analytical data relating to the investment; (ii) the value of other relevant financial instruments, including derivative securities, traded on other markets or among dealers; (iii) an evaluation of the forces which influence the market in which these securities are purchased and sold (e.g., the existence of merger proposals or tender offers that might affect the value of the security); (iv) the type of the security; (v) the size of the holding; (vi) the initial cost of the security; (vii) trading volumes on markets, exchanges or among broker-dealers; (viii) price quotes from dealers and/or pricing services; (ix) values of baskets of securities traded on other markets, exchanges, or among dealers; (x) changes in interest rates; (xi) information obtained from the issuer, analysts, other financial institutions and/or the appropriate stock exchange (for exchange traded securities); (xii) an analysis of the company’s financial statements; (xiii) government (domestic or foreign) actions or pronouncements (xiv) recent news about the security or issuer; (xv) whether two or more dealers with whom the adviser/subadviser regularly effects trades are willing to purchase or sell the security at comparable prices; and (xvi) other news events or relevant matters.

Certain non-U.S. securities may be fair valued in cases where closing prices are not readily available or are deemed not reflective of readily available market prices. For example, significant events (such as movement in the U.S. securities market, or other regional and local developments) may occur between the time that non-U.S. markets close (where the security is principally traded) and the time that a Series calculates its NAV (generally, at the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m. Eastern time)) that may impact the value of securities traded in these non-U.S. markets. In such cases, the Series fair value non-U.S. securities using an independent pricing service which considers the correlation of the trading patterns of the non-U.S. security to the intraday trading in the U.S. markets for investments such as ADRs, financial futures, ETFs, and certain indexes, as well as prices for similar securities. Because the frequency of significant events is not predictable, fair valuation of certain non-U.S. common stocks may occur on a frequent basis.

The value of a security, as determined using the fair value process, may not reflect such security’s market value.

Redemptions

The Series will redeem any shares presented for redemption by the insurance companies holding such shares. Your insurance company’s policies on when and whether to redeem Series shares are described in your variable accumulation annuity contract prospectus or variable universal life insurance policy. The Series expects to meet redemption requests, both under normal circumstances and during periods of stressed market conditions, by using cash, by selling portfolio assets to generate cash, or by borrowing funds under a line of credit, subject to availability of capacity in such line of credit.

April 28, 2025

Virtus KAR Capital Growth Series

Table of Contents

Series Summary

Investment Objective

Fees and Expenses

Example

Portfolio Turnover

Investments, Risks and Performance

Principal Investment Strategies

Performance Information

Average Annual Total Returns (for the periods ended 12/31/2024)

Management

The Series’ investment adviser is Virtus Investment Advisers, LLC (formerly known as Virtus Investment Advisers, Inc.) (“VIA”).

The Series’ subadviser is Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management, LLC (“KAR”), an affiliate of VIA (since September 2011).

Portfolio Management

The following individuals are jointly and primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Series’ portfolio.

> Chris Armbruster, CFA, Portfolio Manager and Senior Research Analyst at KAR. Mr. Armbruster has served as a Portfolio Manager of the Series since January 2020.

> Noran Eid, Portfolio Manager and Senior Research Analyst at KAR. Ms. Eid has served as a Portfolio Manager of the Series since October 2023.

Purchase and Sale of Series Shares

The Series does not offer its shares to the general public. The Series currently offers shares only to the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. Virtus Variable Insurance Trust (the “Trust”), of which the Series is a separate investment portfolio, has entered into an agreement with the insurance company sponsor of each separate account (participation agreement) setting forth the terms and conditions pursuant to which the insurance company will purchase and redeem shares of the Series. For information concerning the purchase of units of the separate accounts, see the variable contract prospectus.

Tax Information

Since the separate accounts are the only shareholders of the Series, no discussion is included herein as to the federal income tax consequences at the shareholder level. For information concerning the federal income tax consequences to the purchasers of variable contracts, see the variable contract prospectus which describes the particular separate account and variable contract.

Payments to Insurance Companies and Other Financial Intermediaries

Series shares are generally available only through intermediaries, i.e., the separate accounts. The Series (and/or its related companies) may pay the insurance companies (and/or their related companies) for distribution and/or other services; some of the payments may, in turn, go to broker-dealers and other financial intermediaries. For example, the Series may make payments for sub-transfer agency services to one or more of the insurance companies. Such payments may create a conflict of interest for an intermediary by influencing the intermediary’s investment recommendations, or be a factor in the insurance company’s decision

to include the Series as an underlying investment option in a variable contract. Ask your salesperson or review your variable contract prospectus for more information.

Under normal circumstances, the Series invests at least 80% of its assets in equity securities of large capitalization companies. For this policy, “assets” means net assets plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes. The subadviser considers large capitalization companies for this purpose to be those companies that, at the time of initial purchase, have market capitalizations within the range of companies included in the Russell 1000^® Growth Index on a rolling three-year basis. Because large capitalization companies are defined by reference to an index, the market capitalization of companies in which the Series may invest may vary with market conditions. As of December 31, 2024, the total market capitalization range of companies included in the Russell 1000^® Growth Index over the past three years was $86.3 million to $3.79 trillion. The Series’ policy of investing 80% of its assets in large capitalization companies may be changed only upon 60 days’ written notice to shareholders. The Series may also invest in small and medium capitalization companies.

The subadviser believes that owning a focused yet economically diversified portfolio of high quality companies will achieve attractive long-term risk-adjusted investment returns. The subadviser defines “high quality” as a qualitative business characteristic that enables a company to resist competitive forces and thereby produce high and enduring profitability. The subadviser applies thorough fundamental analysis to evaluate a company’s competitive attributes.

The subadviser uses a strategy that seeks to emphasize highly profitable, consistently growing companies with low debt and rising cash flows. If a company meets these criteria, the subadviser researches and analyzes that company’s strength of management, its relative competitive position in the industry and its financial structure. To the extent consistent with the Series’ investment objective and strategies, the subadviser may consider as an element of its investment research and decision making processes for the Series any environmental, social and/or governance (“ESG”) factors that the subadviser believes may influence risks and rewards of companies under consideration. However, any consideration of ESG factors will be within the context of the subadviser’s overall investment research and evaluation of whether such factors are relevant and financially material to a particular investment opportunity and, where deemed financially material to a particular investment opportunity, whether the subadviser believes such factors are likely to materially impact anticipated long-term capital appreciation of the investment opportunity. Although the specific ESG factors that will be relevant to each investment opportunity will differ, some examples of ESG factors the subadviser believes to be relevant to many investment opportunities are water stress, toxic emissions and waste, corporate governance, product safety and quality, labor management, and diversity & inclusion. In evaluating an existing or prospective investment, ESG is just one of several factors considered by the subadviser when making investments on behalf of the Series. In addition, ESG is not weighted more heavily than other considerations, and the Series could invest in a company even if such company scores poorly when any applicable ESG factors are considered. Generally, the Series invests in approximately 25-50 securities at any given time.

Although the Series invests primarily in U.S. companies, it may invest in foreign securities and depositary receipts.

The subadviser’s sell discipline seeks to dispose of holdings that, among other things, are the subject of negative developments individually or as an industry, or as necessary to provide funding for new holdings the subadviser deems more attractive.

The Series’ investment objective is non-fundamental, which means it may be changed without shareholder approval.

Temporary Defensive Strategy: During periods of adverse market conditions, the Series may take temporary defensive positions that are inconsistent with its principal investment strategies by holding all or part of its assets in cash or short-term money market instruments including obligations of the U.S. Government, high-quality commercial paper, certificates of deposit, bankers acceptances, bank interest-bearing demand accounts, and repurchase agreements secured by U.S. Government securities. When this allocation happens, the Series may not achieve its objective.

Please see “More About Principal Risks” for information about the risks of investing in the Series. Please refer to “Additional Risks Associated with Investment Techniques and Series Operations” for other investment techniques of the Series.

The Series’ investments are subject generally to market risk and the risk of selecting underperforming securities and asset classes, which may adversely affect the Series and lead to loss of principal.

Depositary Receipts

The Series may invest in American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) sponsored by U.S. banks, European Depositary Receipts (EDRs), Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs), ADRs not sponsored by U.S. banks, other types of depositary receipts (including non-voting depositary receipts), and other similar instruments representing securities of foreign companies.

Depositary receipts may be issued in sponsored or un-sponsored programs. In a sponsored program, a security issuer has made arrangements to have its securities traded in the form of depositary receipts. In an un-sponsored program, the issuer may not be directly involved in the creation of the program. Although the U.S. regulatory requirements applicable to ADRs generally are similar for both sponsored and un-sponsored programs, in some cases it may be easier to obtain financial and other information from an issuer that has participated in the creation of a sponsored program. To the extent the Series invests in depositary receipts of an un-sponsored program, there may be an increased possibility the Series would not become aware of and be able to respond to corporate actions such as stock splits or rights offerings involving the foreign issuer of the security underlying an ADR on a timely basis. While readily exchangeable with stock in local markets, the depositary receipts in an unsponsored program may be less liquid than those in a sponsored program.

The issuers of Depositary Receipts may discontinue issuing new Depositary Receipts and withdraw existing Depositary Receipts at any time, which may result in costs and delays in the distribution of the underlying assets to the Series and may negatively impact the Series’ performance.

Although certain depositary receipts may reduce or eliminate some of the risks associated with foreign investing, these types of securities generally are subject to many of the same risks as direct investment in securities of foreign issuers.

Equity Securities

Generally, prices of equity securities are more volatile than those of fixed income securities. The prices of equity securities will rise and fall in response to a number of different factors. In particular, equity securities will respond to events that affect entire financial markets or industries (such as changes in inflation or consumer demand) and to events that affect particular issuers (such as news about the success or failure of a new product). Equity securities also are subject to “stock market risk,” meaning that stock prices in general may decline over short or extended periods of time. When the value of the stocks held by the Series goes down, the value of the Series’ shares will be affected.

 Growth Stocks. Growth stocks can react differently to issuer, political, market, and economic developments than the market as a whole and other types of stocks. Growth stocks also tend to be more expensive relative to their earnings or assets compared to other types of stocks, and as a result they tend to be sensitive to changes in their earnings and more volatile than other types of stocks.

 Large Market Capitalization Companies. The value of investments in larger companies may not rise as much as investments in smaller companies, and larger companies may be unable to respond quickly to competitive challenges, such as changes in technology and consumer tastes.

 Small and Medium Market Capitalization Companies. Small and medium-sized companies often have narrower markets, fewer products or services to offer, and more limited managerial and financial resources than larger, more established companies. As a result, the performance of small and medium-sized companies may be more volatile, and they may face a greater risk of business failure, which could increase the volatility and risk of loss to the Series.

Foreign Investing

Investing in securities of non-U.S. companies involves special risks and considerations not typically associated with investing in U.S. companies, and the values of non-U.S. securities may be more volatile than those of U.S. securities. The values of non-U.S. securities are subject to economic, geopolitical, and political developments in countries and regions where the issuers operate or are domiciled, or where the securities are traded, such as changes in economic or monetary policies, and to changes in currency exchange rates. Values may also be affected by restrictions on receiving the investment proceeds from a non-U.S. country.

In general, less information is publicly available about non-U.S. companies than about U.S. companies. Non-U.S. companies are generally not subject to the same accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards as are U.S. companies. In addition, the Series’ investments in non-U.S. securities may be subject to withholding and other taxes imposed by countries outside the U.S., which could reduce the return on an investment in the Series. Certain foreign issuers classified as passive foreign investment companies may be subject to additional taxation risk. Risks associated with foreign investing include the following:

 Currency Rate. Because the foreign securities in which the Series invests generally trade in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, changes in currency exchange rates will affect the Series’ net asset value, the value of dividends and interest earned, and gains and losses realized on the sale of securities. Because the value of the Series’ shares is calculated in U.S. dollars, it is possible for the Series to lose money by investing in a foreign security if the local currency of a foreign market depreciates against the U.S. dollar, even if the local currency value of the Series’ holdings goes up. Generally, a strengthening U.S. dollar relative to such other currencies will adversely affect the value of the Series’ holdings in foreign securities.

Limited Number of Investments

There is a risk that a Series’ portfolio may be more susceptible to factors adversely affecting issuers of securities in the Series’ portfolio than would a Series holding a greater number of securities.

Market Volatility

The value of the securities in which the Series invests may go up or down in response to the prospects of individual issuers and/or general economic conditions. Such price changes may be temporary or may last for extended periods.

Instability in the financial markets may expose the Series to greater market and liquidity risk and potential difficulty in valuing portfolio instruments that it holds. In response to financial markets that experienced extreme volatility, and in some cases a lack of liquidity, the U.S. Government and other governments have taken a number of unprecedented actions, including acquiring distressed assets from financial institutions and acquiring ownership interests in those institutions. The implications of government ownership and disposition of these assets are unclear. Additional legislation or government regulation may also change the way in which the Series is regulated, which could limit or preclude the Series’ ability to achieve its investment objective. Local, regional or global events such as war or military conflict (e.g. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine), geopolitical risk, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issue, recessions, tariffs and other restrictions on trade, inflation, rapid interest rate changes, supply chain disruptions, sanctions, or the threat or potential of one or more such events and developments, could have a significant impact on the Series and its investments, hampering the ability of the Series’ portfolio manager(s) to invest the Series’ assets as intended.

Redemption

The redemption by one or more large variable contract owners of their holdings in the Series could have an adverse impact on the remaining variable contract owners in the Series by, for example, accelerating the realization of capital gains and/or increasing the Series’ transaction costs.

Sector Focused Investing

The value of the investments of a Series that focuses its investments in a particular market sector will be highly sensitive to financial, economic, political and other developments affecting that market sector, and conditions that negatively impact that market sector will have a greater impact on the Series as compared with a Series that does not have its holdings similarly focused. Events negatively affecting the market sectors in which a Series has invested are therefore likely to cause the value of the Series’ shares to decrease, perhaps significantly.

 Technology-Related. A Series that makes significant investments in the technology sector will be subject to risks particularly affecting technology or technology-related companies, such as the risks of short product cycles and rapid obsolescence of products and services, competition from new and

existing companies, significant losses and/or limited earnings, security price volatility, limited operating histories and management experience, and patent and other intellectual property considerations.

The Adviser

VIA has served as the investment adviser to the Series since November 2010. VIA, located at One Financial Plaza, Hartford, CT 06103, acts as the investment adviser for over 100 mutual funds and as adviser to institutional clients. As of December 31, 2024, VIA had approximately $44.3 billion in assets under management. VIA has acted as an investment adviser for over 80 years and is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Virtus Investment Partners, Inc., a publicly traded multi-manager asset management business.

Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement with the Series and subject to the direction of the Trust’s Board of Trustees, VIA is responsible for managing the Series’ investment program in conformity with the stated policies of the Series as described in this prospectus. VIA, with the approval of the Trust’s Board of Trustees, has selected KAR, an affiliate of VIA, to serve as subadviser and perform the day-to-day portfolio management of the Series. KAR, subject to the supervision of VIA, is responsible for deciding which securities to purchase and sell for the Series and for placing the Series’ transactions.

The Series pays VIA an investment management fee that is accrued daily against the value of the Series’ net assets at the following annual rate:

For its last fiscal year, the Series paid advisory fees at the rate of 0.70% of its average net assets.

The Trust has entered into an expense limitation agreement with VIA whereby VIA has agreed to reimburse the Series for expenses necessary or appropriate for the operation of the Series (excluding certain expenses, such as front-end sales charges, taxes, leverage and borrowing expenses (such as commitment, amendment and renewal expenses on credit or redemption facilities), interest, brokerage commissions, expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization, unusual or infrequently occurring expenses (such as litigation), acquired fund fees and expenses, and dividend expenses, if any) to the extent that such expenses exceed 1.03% of the Series’ average net assets. This expense limitation agreement is in place through April 30, 2026. After April 30, 2026, VIA may discontinue this expense reimbursement arrangement at any time. VIA may recapture operating expenses reimbursed under an expense reimbursement arrangement for a period of three years following the date such waiver or reimbursement occurred, provided that the recapture does not cause the Series to exceed its expense limit in effect at the time of the waiver or reimbursement, and any in effect at the time of recapture, after repayment is taken into account.

VIA serves as a manager of managers of the Series. In this capacity, VIA: (i) sets the Series’ overall investment strategies; (ii) evaluates, selects, and recommends to the Board one or more subadvisers needed to manage all or part of the assets of the Series; (iii) monitors and evaluates the subadvisers’ investment programs and results as well as the performance of the subadvisers relative to the applicable benchmark indexes; and (iv) reviews the Series’ compliance with its investment objectives, policies and restrictions.

The Trust and VIA have received shareholder approval to rely on an exemptive order from the SEC that permits VIA, subject to certain conditions and without the approval of shareholders to: (a) select both unaffiliated subadvisers and certain wholly owned affiliated subadvisers to manage all or a portion of the assets of a Series, and enter into subadvisory agreements with such subadvisers; (b) materially amend subadvisory agreements with such subadvisers; and (c) continue the employment of an existing subadviser on the same subadvisory agreement terms where an agreement has been assigned because of a change in control of the subadviser. In such circumstances, shareholders would receive notice of such action, including, if applicable, instructions regarding how to obtain the information concerning the new subadviser that normally is provided in a proxy statement.

The Subadviser

KAR, an affiliate of VIA, has served as the subadviser to the Series since September 2011. KAR is located at 2000 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 1110, Los Angeles, CA 90067. KAR acts as subadviser to mutual funds and as investment adviser to institutions and individuals. As of December 31, 2024, KAR managed approximately $67.9 billion of which $45.5 billion was regulatory assets under management and $22.4 billion was model/emulation assets under contract. Model/emulation assets refer to assets that KAR is under contract to deliver a model portfolio to and are not considered regulatory assets under management.

From its investment advisory fee, VIA, and not the Series, pays KAR for its subadvisory services at the rate of 50% of the net advisory fee.

Board of Trustees’ Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements

The Trust’s annual report to shareholders for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 contains a discussion regarding the basis for the Trust’s Board of Trustees’ approval of the investment advisory and investment subadvisory agreements for the Series.

Portfolio Management

The following individuals are the members of the team of equity investment professionals jointly and primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Series’ portfolio.

Chris Armbruster, CFA. Mr. Armbruster is a Portfolio Manager and Senior Research Analyst at KAR with primary research responsibilities for the large-capitalization communication services, consumer discretionary, health care, and technology sectors. Before joining KAR in 2013, Mr. Armbruster worked at B. Riley & Co. as an associate analyst covering special situations, and at Al Frank Asset Management as a vice president in equity research. He began his career in the investment industry in 2004.

Noran Eid. Ms. Eid is a Portfolio Manager and Senior Research Analyst with primary research responsibilities for mid-cap growth and large-cap portfolios in the consumer discretionary, information technology, and health care sectors. Before joining KAR in May 2018, Ms. Eid was an investment analyst with Sands Capital Management from (2013 to 2017). She began her career in the investment industry in 2006.

The statement of additional information (“SAI”) provides additional information about the portfolio managers’ compensation, other accounts managed by the portfolio managers and the portfolio managers’ ownership of securities in the Series.

Information about the Series’ principal investment strategies and risks appears in the Series Summary section and the sections entitled “More About Principal Investment Strategies” and “More About Principal Risks” above.

The information below describes other investment strategies that the Series may use that are not principal strategies and the risks of those strategies, arranged in alphabetical order, as well as other operational risks. Further descriptions of these investment strategies and practices can be found in the SAI. The greater an investment in a particular asset class by the Series, the greater the impact to the Series of the risks related to the class.

Cybersecurity

With the increased use of technologies such as the Internet to conduct business, the Series is potentially more susceptible to operational and information security risks through breaches in cybersecurity. In general, a breach in cybersecurity can result from either a deliberate attack or an unintentional event. Cybersecurity breaches may involve, among other things, infection by computer viruses or other malicious software code or unauthorized access to the digital information systems, networks or devices of the Series or its service providers (including, but not limited to, the Series’ investment adviser, transfer agent, custodian, administrators and other financial intermediaries) through “hacking” or other means, in each case for the purpose of misappropriating assets or sensitive information (including, for example, personal shareholder information), corrupting data or causing operational disruption or failures in the physical infrastructure or operating systems that support the Series. Any such cybersecurity breaches or losses of service may cause the Series to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity, which, in turn, could cause the Series to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures, and/or financial loss. While the Series and its service providers have established business continuity plans and risk management systems designed to prevent or reduce the impact of cybersecurity attacks, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems due in part to the ever-changing nature of technology and cybersecurity attack tactics, and there is a possibility that certain risks have not been adequately identified or prepared for. Substantial costs may be incurred in order to prevent future cybersecurity incidents. The use of cloud-based service providers could heighten or change these risks. Recently, geopolitical tensions may have increased the scale and sophistication of deliberate cybersecurity attacks, particularly those from nation-states or from entities with nation-state backing. Cybersecurity risks may also impact issuers of securities in which the Series invests, which may cause the Series’ investments in such issuers to lose value.

Debt Instruments

Debt instruments are subject to various risks, the most prominent of which are credit risk and interest rate risk. These risks can affect an instrument’s price volatility to varying degrees, depending upon the nature of the instrument. Risks associated with investing in debt instruments include the following:

 Credit. There is a risk that the issuer of an instrument will fail to pay interest or principal in a timely manner, or that negative perceptions exist in the market of the issuer’s ability to make such payments will cause the price of the instrument to decline. Debt instruments rated below investment-grade are especially susceptible to this risk.

 Income. The income shareholders receive from the Series is based primarily on the dividends and interest the Series earns from its investments, which can vary widely over the short- and/or long-term. If prevailing market interest rates drop, distribution rates of the Series’ preferred stock holdings and any bond holdings could drop as well. The Series’ income also would likely be affected adversely when prevailing short-term interest rates increase. In certain circumstances, the Series may be treated as receiving income even though no cash is received. The Series may not be able to pay distributions, or may have to reduce distribution levels, if the cash distributions that the Series receives from its investments decline.

 Interest Rate. The values of debt instruments usually rise and fall in response to changes in interest rates. Declining interest rates generally increase the value of existing debt instruments, and rising interest rates generally decrease the value of existing debt instruments. Changes in a debt instrument’s value usually will not affect the amount of interest income paid to the Series, but will affect the value of the Series’ shares. Interest rate risk is generally greater for investments with longer maturities. It is difficult to predict the pace at which central banks or monetary authorities may change interest rates or the timing, frequency, or magnitude of such changes. Any such changes could be sudden and could expose debt markets to significant volatility and reduced liquidity for investments.

Certain instruments pay interest at variable or floating rates. Variable rate instruments reset at specified intervals, while floating rate instruments reset whenever there is a change in a specified index rate. In most cases, these reset provisions reduce the effect of changes in market interest rates on the value of the instrument. However, some instruments do not track the underlying index directly, but reset based on formulas that can produce an effect similar to leveraging; others may also provide for interest payments that vary inversely with market rates. The market prices of these instruments may fluctuate significantly when interest rates change.

Some investments give the issuer the option to call or redeem an investment before its maturity date. If an issuer calls or redeems an investment during a time of declining interest rates, the Series might have to reinvest the proceeds in an investment offering a lower yield, and therefore it might not benefit from any increase in value as a result of declining interest rates.

 Prepayment/Call. There is a risk that issuers will prepay fixed rate obligations when interest rates fall. The Series therefore may be forced to reinvest in obligations with lower interest rates than the original obligations and otherwise may not benefit fully from the increase in value that other fixed income investments experience when rates decline.

Derivatives and Other Similar Transactions

Derivative and other similar transactions (collectively referred to in this section as “derivatives” or “derivatives contracts”) are contracts whose value is derived from the value of an underlying asset, index or rate, including futures, options, non-deliverable forwards, foreign currency forward contracts and swap agreements. The Series may use derivatives to hedge against factors that affect the value of its investments, such as interest rates and foreign currency

exchange rates. The Series may also utilize derivatives as part of its overall investment technique to gain or lessen exposure to various securities, markets, volatility, dividend payments and currencies.

Derivatives may give rise to a form of leverage which magnifies the potential for gain and the risk of loss. It is generally more difficult to ascertain the risk of, and to properly value, derivative contracts. Many derivatives, and particularly those that are privately negotiated, are complex and often valued subjectively. Improper valuations can result in increased cash payment requirements to counterparties or a loss of value to the Series. The prices of derivatives may move in unexpected ways, especially in abnormal market conditions. Derivatives are usually less liquid than traditional securities and are subject to counterparty risk (the risk that the other party to the contract will default or otherwise not be able to perform its contractual obligations). Changes in the value of a derivative may also create margin delivery or settlement payment obligations for the Series. In addition, some derivatives transactions may involve potentially unlimited losses.

The use of derivatives is also subject to operational risk which refers to risk related to potential operational issues, including documentation issues, settlement issues, system failures, inadequate controls, and human error, as well as legal risk which refers to the risk of loss resulting from insufficient documentation, insufficient capacity or authority of counterparty, or legality or enforceability of a contract.

Derivative contracts entered into for hedging purposes may also subject the Series to losses if the contracts do not correlate with the assets, indexes or rates they were designed to hedge. In regard to currency hedging using forward contracts, it is generally not possible to precisely match the foreign currency exposure of such foreign currency forward contracts to the value of the securities involved due to fluctuations in the market values of such securities and cash flows into and out of the Series between the date a foreign currency forward contract is entered into and the date it expires.

Governments, agencies and/or other regulatory bodies may adopt or change laws or regulations that could adversely affect the Series’ ability to invest in derivatives as the Series’ subadviser intends. The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”), among other things, grants the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the “CFTC”) and SEC broad rulemaking authority to implement various provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act including comprehensive regulation of the over-the-counter (“OTC”) derivatives market. Provisions in the Dodd-Frank Act include capital and margin requirements and the mandatory use of clearinghouse mechanisms for many OTC derivative transactions. The CFTC, SEC and other federal regulators have adopted rules and regulations enacting provisions of the Dodd-Frank Act. Some requirements may directly impact the Series, including, for example, the CFTC’s rules that apply an aggregation standard for position limit purposes. Other requirements, even if not directly applicable to the Series (for example, limits or requirements imposed on the Series’ transaction counterparties), may increase the cost of the Series’ investments and cost of doing business, which could adversely affect investors.

There are also special tax rules applicable to certain types of derivatives, which could affect the amount, timing and character of the Series’ income or loss and hence of its distributions to shareholders by causing holding period adjustments, converting short-term capital losses into long-term capital losses, and accelerating the Series’ income or deferring its losses. The Series’ use of derivatives may also increase the amount of taxes payable by shareholders or the resources required by the Series or its adviser and/or subadviser(s) to comply with particular regulatory requirements.

ESG Consideration

The Series’ consideration of ESG factors could cause it to perform differently compared to funds that do not use such considerations. The relevance and weightings of specific ESG factors may vary across asset classes, sectors and strategies and no one factor is determinative. ESG factors are qualitative and subjective by nature and there are significant differences in interpretations of what it means for a company to have positive or negative ESG factors. There is no guarantee that the factors utilized by the Series’ subadviser or any judgment exercised by the subadviser will reflect the opinions of any particular investor, and the factors analyzed by the subadviser may differ from the factors any particular investor considers relevant in evaluating ESG practices. When integrating ESG factors into the investment process, the subadviser may rely on third-party data that it believes to be reliable, but it does not guarantee the accuracy of such third-party data. ESG information from third-party data providers may be incomplete, inaccurate or unavailable, which may adversely impact the investment process. Moreover, the current lack of common standards may result in different approaches to integrating ESG factors. As a result, the Series may invest in companies that do not reflect the beliefs and values of any particular investor.

The ESG factors that may be evaluated as part of the Series’ investment process are anticipated to evolve over time and one or more characteristics may not be relevant with respect to all issuers that are eligible for investment. Further, the regulatory landscape with respect to ESG integration in the United States is still developing and future rules and regulations may require the Series to modify or alter its investment process with respect to ESG integration.

Exchange-Traded Funds (“ETFs”)

ETFs invest in a portfolio of securities designed to track a particular market segment or index. The risks associated with investing in ETFs generally reflect the risks of owning shares of the underlying securities the ETF is designed to track, although lack of liquidity in an ETF could result in its value being more volatile than the underlying portfolio of securities. Assets invested in ETFs incur a layering of expenses, including operating costs and advisory fees that Series shareholders indirectly bear; such expenses may exceed the expenses the Series would incur if it invested directly in the underlying portfolio of securities the ETF is designed to track. Shares of ETFs trade on a securities exchange and may trade at, above, or below their net asset value.

Initial Public Offerings (“IPOs”)

The Series may acquire common and preferred stock of issuers in an IPO. Investment returns from IPOs may be highly volatile and subject to varying patterns of trading volume, and these securities may at times be difficult to sell. In addition, information about the issuers of IPO securities is often difficult to obtain since they are new to the market and may not have lengthy operating histories. From time to time, the Series may purchase stock in an IPO and then immediately sell the stock. This practice will increase portfolio turnover rates and increase costs to the Series, affect Series performance, and may increase capital gain distributions, resulting in greater tax liability to the Series’ shareholders.

Mortgage-Backed and Asset-Backed Securities

Mortgage-backed securities represent interests in pools of residential mortgage loans purchased from individual lenders by a federal agency or originated and issued by private lenders. Asset-backed securities represent interests in pools of underlying assets such as motor vehicle installment sales or installment loan contracts, leases of various types of real and personal property, and receivables from credit card arrangements. These two types of securities share many of the same risks.

The impairment of the value of collateral or other assets underlying a mortgage-backed or asset-backed security, such as that resulting from non-payment of loans, may result in a reduction in the value of such security and losses to the Series.

Early payoffs in the loans underlying such securities may result in the Series receiving less income than originally anticipated. The variability in prepayments will tend to limit price gains when interest rates drop and exaggerate price declines when interest rates rise. In the event of high prepayments, the Series may be required to invest proceeds at lower interest rates, causing the Series to earn less than if the prepayments had not occurred. Conversely, rising interest rates may cause prepayments to occur at a slower than expected rate, which may effectively change a security that was considered short- or intermediate-term into a long-term security. Due to these risks, asset-backed securities may become more volatile in certain interest rate environments. Due to these risks, asset-backed securities may become more volatile in certain interest rate environments. Long-term securities tend to fluctuate in value more widely in response to changes in interest rates than shorter-term securities.

Operational

An investment in the Series, like any mutual fund, can involve operational risks arising from factors such as processing errors, human errors, inadequate or failed internal or external processes, failures in systems and technology, changes in personnel and errors caused by third-party service providers. The occurrence of any of these failures, errors or breaches could result in a loss of information, regulatory scrutiny, reputational damage or other events, any of which could have a material adverse effect on the Series. While the Series seeks to minimize such events through controls and oversight, there may still be failures that could cause losses to the Series.

Private Placements

The Series may purchase securities which have been privately issued to qualified institutional investors under special rules adopted by the SEC. While such securities may offer higher yields than comparable publicly traded securities, generally, privately placed securities are illiquid and are subject to resale restrictions. Privately issued securities ordinarily can be sold by the Series only in secondary market transactions to certain qualified investors pursuant to rules established by the SEC or privately negotiated transactions to a limited number of purchasers. Therefore, sales of such securities by the Series may involve significant delays and expense.

Securities Lending

The Series may loan portfolio securities with a value up to one-third of its total assets to increase its investment returns. If the borrower is unwilling or unable to return the borrowed securities when due, the lending Series can suffer losses. In addition, there is a risk of delay in receiving additional collateral or in the recovery of the securities, and a risk of loss of rights in the collateral, in the event that the borrower fails financially. There is also a risk that the value of the investment of the collateral could decline, causing a loss to the lending Series.

Short-Term Investments

Short-term investments include money market instruments, repurchase agreements, certificates of deposit and bankers’ acceptances and other short-term instruments that are not U.S. Government securities. These securities generally present less risk than many other investments, but they are generally subject to credit risk and may be subject to other risks as well.

The Trust, on behalf of each series of the Trust, including Class A Shares of the Virtus KAR Capital Growth Series, has adopted a plan pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “Distribution Plan”). The Trust has entered into an Underwriting Agreement relating to the Distribution Plan with VP Distributors, LLC (the “Distributor”) located at One Financial Plaza, Hartford, CT 06103. The Distributor is an affiliate of the adviser, and serves as principal underwriter for the Trust. The Distribution Plan permits the use of Series assets to help finance the distribution of the shares of the Series.

Under the Distribution Plan, the Trust, on behalf of each Series, is permitted to pay to the Distributor (who may in turn pay other service providers) up to a total of 0.25% of the average daily net assets of Class A of the Series, as payment for services rendered in connection with the distribution of shares. Because these fees are paid out of Series assets on an ongoing basis, over time these costs will increase the cost of your investment and may cost you more than other types of sales charges.

Organization of the Trust

The Trust was organized as a Massachusetts business trust on February 18, 1986. It was subsequently reorganized into a Delaware statutory trust on February 14, 2011. The Trust currently consists of eight series of which the Series is one. The Trust’s business and affairs are managed by its Board of Trustees.

Shares of Beneficial Interest

Shares (including fractional shares) of the Series have equal rights with regard to voting, redemptions, dividends, distributions and liquidations with respect to the Series. All voting rights of the separate accounts as shareholders are passed through to the variable contract owners. Shareholders of all series of the Trust currently vote on the election of Trustees and other matters. On matters affecting an individual series such as the Series (such as approval of an advisory or subadvisory agreement or a change in fundamental investment policies), a separate vote of that Series is required. On matters affecting an individual class (such as approval of matters relating to a Distribution Plan for a particular class of shares), a separate vote of that class is required. The Trust is not required to hold annual shareholder meetings.

Series shares attributable to any insurance company assets and Series shares for which no timely instructions from variable contract owners are received will be voted by the appropriate insurance company in the same proportion as those shares for which instructions are received.

The assets received by the Trust for the issue or sale of shares of the Series, and all income, earnings, profits and proceeds thereof, subject only to the rights of creditors, are allocated to the Series, and constitute the underlying assets of the Series. The underlying assets of the Series are required to be segregated on the books of account, and are to be charged with the expenses of the Series and with a share of the general expenses of the Trust. Any general expenses of the Trust not readily identifiable as belonging to a particular series shall be allocated by or under the direction of the Trustees in such manner as the Trustees determine to be fair and equitable.

Taxes

The Trust intends for the Series to qualify as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) by satisfying the requirements under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), including requirements with respect to diversification of assets, distribution of income, and sources of income. In general, a series that qualifies as a RIC will be relieved of federal income tax on its net investment income and net capital gains distributed to its shareholders. In addition, the Trust intends for the Series to comply with the investment diversification requirements for variable contracts contained in the Code. Moreover, the Trust intends to distribute sufficient net investment income and net capital gains of the Series to avoid imposition of any federal excise tax.

Accordingly, the Trust intends that, at the close of each quarter of the taxable year, (i) not more than 25% of the market value of the Series’ total assets will be invested in the securities of a single issuer and (ii) with respect to 50% of the market value of the Series’ total assets, not more than 5% of the market value of the Series’ total assets will be invested in the securities of a single issuer and the Series will not own more than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of a single issuer.

Actual and deemed distributions of ordinary income and net capital gains generally are taxable to the Series’ shareholders, which in this case are the separate accounts. Because the sole shareholders of the Series will be the separate accounts, no discussion is included in this prospectus as to the federal income tax consequences at the shareholder level. For information concerning the federal income tax consequences to purchasers of the variable contracts, please see the variable contract prospectuses.

Disruptive Trading and Market Timing

As an investment vehicle for variable contracts, which are designed as long-term investments, the Series is not appropriate for “market timing” or other trading strategies that entail rapid or frequent investment and trading. Frequent purchases, redemptions and transfers, transfers into and then out of the Series in a short period of time, and transfers of large amounts at one time may be indicative of market timing and otherwise disruptive trading (“Disruptive Trading”), which can have risks and harmful effects for other investors. These risks and harmful effects include:

 dilution of the interests of long-term investors, if market timers or others transfer into the Series at prices that are below the true value or exchange out of the Series at prices that are higher than the true value;

 an adverse effect on portfolio management, such as causing the Series to maintain a higher level of cash than would otherwise be the case, or causing the Series to liquidate investments prematurely; and

 increased brokerage and administrative expenses.

Funds that invest primarily in international securities may be more susceptible to pricing arbitrage opportunities because of time zone differences between the closing of international and domestic markets. Funds that invest primarily in small and mid-cap securities may be more susceptible to arbitrage opportunities because of the less liquid nature of small and mid-cap securities. In addition, funds that hold significant investments in high yield bonds may also be susceptible to market timing because high yield bonds are often thinly traded so that their market prices may not accurately reflect current market developments. To the extent that the Series invests in these types of securities, it may be more susceptible to the risks of Disruptive Trading.

In order to attempt to protect Trust investors, the Trust’s Board of Trustees has adopted market timing policies reasonably designed to discourage Disruptive Trading. The Trust reserves the right to amend these policies at any time without prior notice. Because the record owners of the Series are the insurance companies and not the variable contract owners, the Trust is not ordinarily in a position to monitor for or uncover Disruptive Trading by variable contract owners. Therefore, under the Trust’s policies, the Trust delegates to each insurance company the duty to establish and maintain policies and procedures designed to detect, monitor and deter (including, without limitation, by rejecting specific purchase orders) investors (or their agents) whose purchase and redemption activity follows a Disruptive Trading pattern, and to take such other actions as the insurance company may deem necessary to discourage or reduce Disruptive Trading activities. An insurance company may only modify such policies and procedures if it provides reasonable notice to the Trust and the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer. Please see your variable contract prospectus for information relating to applicable restrictions on purchases or transfers through your variable contract.

The Trust may also take certain actions to stop Disruptive Trading, including imposing redemption fees for the Series and ceasing sales of additional shares of the Series to a separate account through which variable contract owners are engaging in Disruptive Trading. Because the Trust reserves discretion in applying these policies, they may not be applied uniformly. In addition, the Trust, as required under SEC regulations, has entered into an agreement with each insurance company under which the insurance companies have agreed to provide the Trust or its designee with information about variable contract owner transactions in the Series upon request.

Although the Trust will endeavor to ensure that each insurance company can and does identify and deter Disruptive Trading by its variable contract owners, the Trust cannot control their efforts or guarantee their success at deterrence. In addition, the Trust cannot guarantee that monitoring by the insurance companies and the Trust will be 100% successful in detecting all Disruptive Trading activity. Consequently, there is a risk that some investors could engage in Disruptive Trading while others will bear the effects of their Disruptive Trading activities.

Portfolio Holdings

A description of the Trust’s policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the Series’ portfolio securities is available in the SAI.

The Board of Trustees has adopted valuation policy and approved procedures for determining the value of investments of the Series. Pursuant to the valuation policy and Rule 2a-5 under the 1940 Act, the Board of Trustees has designated the Adviser as its “valuation designee” for fair value determinations.

Shares of the Series are not available to the public directly. You may invest in the Series by buying a variable accumulation annuity contract or a variable universal life insurance policy from an insurance company and directing the allocation of the net purchase payment(s) to the investment option corresponding to the Series. The appropriate insurance company will, in turn, invest payments in shares of the Series as the investor directs at the net asset value next determined.

The Series offers only Class A Shares.

Sales Charge and Surrender Charges

The Series does not assess any sales charge, either when it sells or when it redeems securities. The sales charges that may be assessed under the variable contracts or policies are described in the variable contract prospectuses, as are other charges.

Determination of Net Asset Value

The Series calculates a share price for each class of its shares. The share price (net asset value or “NAV”) for each class is based on the net assets of the Series and the number of outstanding shares of that class. In general, each Series calculates a share price for each class by:

 adding the values of all securities and other assets of the Series;

 subtracting liabilities; and

 dividing the result by the total number of outstanding shares of that class.

Assets: Equity securities are valued at the official closing price (typically last sale) on the exchange on which the securities are primarily traded, or, if no closing price is available, at the last bid price. Shares of other investment companies are valued at such companies’ NAVs. Debt instruments, including restricted securities, are valued based on evaluated quotations received from independent pricing services or from dealers who make markets in such securities. Other assets, such as accrued interest, accrued dividends and cash are also included in determining the Series’ NAV. As required, some securities and assets are valued at fair value as determined by the Adviser.

Liabilities: Accrued liabilities for class-specific expenses (if any), distribution fees, service fees and other liabilities are deducted from the assets of each class. Accrued expenses and liabilities that are not class-specific (such as management fees) are allocated to each class in proportion to each class’s net assets except where an alternative allocation can be more appropriately made.

Net Asset Value (“NAV”): The liabilities allocated to a class are deducted from the proportionate interest of such class in the assets of the applicable Series. The resulting amount for each class is then divided by the number of shares outstanding of that class to produce each class’s NAV per share.

The NAV per share of each class of the Series is determined as of the close of regular trading (generally 4:00 PM Eastern Time) on days when the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) is open for trading. The Series will not calculate its NAV per share class on days when the NYSE is closed for trading. If the Series (or underlying fund, as applicable) holds securities that are traded on foreign exchanges that trade on weekends or other holidays when the Series does not price its shares, the NAV of the Series’ shares may change on days when shareholders will not be able to purchase or redeem the Series’ shares.

Fair Valuation

If market quotations are not readily available or available prices are not reliable, the Series determines a “fair value” for an investment according to policies and procedures approved by the Board of Trustees. The types of assets for which such pricing might be required include: (i) securities whose trading has been suspended; (ii) securities where the trading market is unusually thin or trades have been infrequent; (iii) debt instruments that have recently gone into default and for which there is no current market quotation; (iv) a security whose market price is not available from an independent pricing source and for which otherwise reliable quotes are not available; (v) securities of an issuer that has entered into a restructuring; (vi) a security whose price as provided by any pricing source does not, in the opinion of the adviser/subadviser, reflect the security’s market value; (vii) foreign securities subject to trading collars for which no or limited trading takes place; (viii) securities where the market quotations are not readily available as a result of “significant” events; and (ix) securities whose principal exchange or trading market is closed for an entire business day on which the Series needs to determine its NAV. This list is not inclusive of all situations that may require a security to be fair valued, nor is it intended to be conclusive in determining whether a specific event requires fair valuation.

The value of any portfolio security held by the Series for which market quotations are not readily available shall be determined in good faith and in a manner that assesses the security’s “fair value” on the valuation date (i.e., the amount that the Series might reasonably expect to receive for the security upon its current sale), based on a consideration of all available facts and all available information, including, but not limited to, the following: (i) the fundamental analytical data relating to the investment; (ii) the value of other relevant financial instruments, including derivative securities, traded on other markets or among dealers; (iii) an evaluation of the forces which influence the market in which these securities are purchased and sold (e.g., the existence of merger proposals or tender offers that might affect the value of the security); (iv) the type of the security; (v) the size of the holding; (vi) the initial cost of the security; (vii) trading volumes on markets, exchanges or among broker-dealers; (viii) price quotes from dealers and/or pricing services; (ix) values of baskets of securities traded on other markets, exchanges, or among dealers; (x) changes in interest rates; (xi) information obtained from the issuer, analysts, other financial institutions and/or the appropriate stock exchange (for exchange traded securities); (xii) an analysis of the company’s financial statements; (xiii) government (domestic or foreign) actions or pronouncements (xiv) recent news about the security or issuer; (xv) whether two or more dealers with whom the adviser/subadviser regularly effects trades are willing to purchase or sell the security at comparable prices; and (xvi) other news events or relevant matters.

Certain non-U.S. securities may be fair valued in cases where closing prices are not readily available or are deemed not reflective of readily available market prices. For example, significant events (such as movement in the U.S. securities market, or other regional and local developments) may occur between the time that non-U.S. markets close (where the security is principally traded) and the time that a Series calculates its NAV (generally, at the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m. Eastern time)) that may impact the value of securities traded in these non-U.S. markets. In such cases, the Series fair value non-U.S.

securities using an independent pricing service which considers the correlation of the trading patterns of the non-U.S. security to the intraday trading in the U.S. markets for investments such as ADRs, financial futures, ETFs, and certain indexes, as well as prices for similar securities. Because the frequency of significant events is not predictable, fair valuation of certain non-U.S. common stocks may occur on a frequent basis.

The value of a security, as determined using the fair value process, may not reflect such security’s market value.

Redemptions

The Series will redeem any shares presented for redemption by the insurance companies holding such shares. Your insurance company’s policies on when and whether to redeem Series shares are described in your variable accumulation annuity contract prospectus or variable universal life insurance policy. The Series expects to meet redemption requests, both under normal circumstances and during periods of stressed market conditions, by using cash, by selling portfolio assets to generate cash, or by borrowing funds under a line of credit, subject to availability of capacity in such line of credit.

April 28, 2025

Virtus KAR Equity Income Series

Table of Contents

Series Summary

Investment Objective

Fees and Expenses

Example

Portfolio Turnover

Investments, Risks and Performance

Principal Investment Strategies

Performance Information

Average Annual Total Returns (for the periods ended 12/31/2024)

Management

The Series’ investment adviser is Virtus Investment Advisers, LLC (formerly known as Virtus Investment Advisers, Inc.) (“VIA”).

The Series’ subadviser is Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management, LLC (“KAR”), an affiliate of VIA (since September 2020).

Portfolio Management

The following individual is primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Series’ portfolio.

> Richard Sherry, CFA, Portfolio Manager and Senior Research Analyst at KAR. Mr. Sherry has served as a Portfolio Manager of the Series since September 2020.

Purchase and Sale of Series Shares

The Series does not offer its shares to the general public. The Series currently offers shares only to the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. Virtus Variable Insurance Trust (the “Trust”), of which the Series is a separate investment portfolio, has entered into an agreement with the insurance company sponsor of each separate account (participation agreement) setting forth the terms and conditions pursuant to which the insurance company will purchase and redeem shares of the Series. For information concerning the purchase of units of the separate accounts, see the variable contract prospectus.

Tax Information

Since the separate accounts are the only shareholders of the Series, no discussion is included herein as to the federal income tax consequences at the shareholder level. For information concerning the federal income tax consequences to the purchasers of variable contracts, see the variable contract prospectus which describes the particular separate account and variable contract.

Payments to Insurance Companies and Other Financial Intermediaries

Series shares are generally available only through intermediaries, i.e., the separate accounts. The Series (and/or its related companies) may pay the insurance companies (and/or their related companies) for distribution and/or other services; some of the payments may, in turn, go to broker-dealers and other financial intermediaries. For example, the Series may make payments for sub-transfer agency services to one or more of the insurance companies. Such payments may create a conflict of interest for an intermediary by influencing the intermediary’s investment recommendations, or be a factor in the insurance company’s decision to include the Series as an underlying investment option in a variable contract. Ask your salesperson or review your variable contract prospectus for more information.

The Series invests in dividend paying equity securities of U.S. companies. Such companies may include issuers of securities that are traded on a non-U.S. exchange if the Series’ subadviser determines that the issuer is primarily tied to the fortunes and risks of the United States. In that event, the Series may invest in depositary receipts representing the securities of such issuers. The Series typically invests in the securities of medium to large capitalization companies, but it is not limited to investing in the securities of companies of any particular size. Under normal circumstances, the Series invests at least 80% of its assets in dividend paying equity securities. For this policy, “assets” means net assets plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes. The Series’ policy of investing 80% of its assets in dividend paying equity securities may be changed only upon 60 days’ written notice to shareholders.

The subadviser uses a strategy that seeks to emphasize highly profitable, consistently growing companies with low debt and rising cash flows. If a company meets these criteria, the subadviser researches and analyzes that company’s strength of management, its relative competitive position in the industry and its financial structure. To the extent consistent with the Series’ investment objective and strategies, the subadviser may consider as an element of its investment research and decision making processes for the Series any environmental, social and/or governance (“ESG”) factors that the subadviser believes may influence risks and rewards of companies under consideration. However, any consideration of ESG factors will be within the context of the subadviser’s overall investment research and evaluation of whether such factors are relevant and financially material to a particular investment opportunity and, where deemed financially material to a particular investment opportunity, whether the subadviser believes such factors are likely to materially impact anticipated long-term capital appreciation of the investment opportunity. Although the specific ESG factors that will be relevant to each investment opportunity will differ, some examples of ESG factors the subadviser believes to be relevant to many investment opportunities are water stress, toxic emissions and waste, corporate governance, product safety and quality, labor management, and diversity & inclusion. In evaluating an existing or prospective investment, ESG is just one of several factors considered by the subadviser when making investments on behalf of the Series. In addition, ESG is not weighted more heavily than other considerations, and the Series could invest in a company even if such company scores poorly when any applicable ESG factors are considered. Generally, the Series invests in approximately 25 to 50 securities at any given time.

The subadviser’s sell discipline seeks to dispose of holdings that, among other things, are the subject of negative developments individually or as an industry, or as necessary to provide funding for new holdings the subadviser deems more attractive.

The Series’ investment objective is non-fundamental, which means it may be changed without shareholder approval.

Temporary Defensive Strategy: During periods of adverse market conditions, the Series may take temporary defensive positions that are inconsistent with its principal investment strategies by holding all or part of its assets in cash or short-term money market instruments including obligations of the U.S. Government, high-quality commercial paper, certificates of deposit, bankers acceptances, bank interest-bearing demand accounts, and repurchase agreements secured by U.S. Government securities. When this allocation happens, the Series may not achieve its objectives.

Please see “More About Principal Risks” for information about the risks of investing in the Series. Please refer to “Additional Risks Associated with Investment Techniques and Series Operations” for other investment techniques of the Series.

The Series’ investments are subject generally to market risk and the risk of selecting underperforming securities and asset classes, which may adversely affect the Series and lead to loss of principal.

Depositary Receipts

The Series may invest in American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) sponsored by U.S. banks, European Depositary Receipts (EDRs), Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs), ADRs not sponsored by U.S. banks, other types of depositary receipts (including non-voting depositary receipts), and other similar instruments representing securities of foreign companies.

Depositary receipts may be issued in sponsored or un-sponsored programs. In a sponsored program, a security issuer has made arrangements to have its securities traded in the form of depositary receipts. In an un-sponsored program, the issuer may not be directly involved in the creation of the program. Although the U.S. regulatory requirements applicable to ADRs generally are similar for both sponsored and un-sponsored programs, in some cases it may be easier to obtain financial and other information from an issuer that has participated in the creation of a sponsored program. To the extent the Series invests in depositary receipts of an un-sponsored program, there may be an increased possibility the Series would not become aware of and be able to respond to corporate actions such as stock splits or rights offerings involving the foreign issuer of the security underlying an ADR on a timely basis. While readily exchangeable with stock in local markets, the depositary receipts in an unsponsored program may be less liquid than those in a sponsored program.

The issuers of Depositary Receipts may discontinue issuing new Depositary Receipts and withdraw existing Depositary Receipts at any time, which may result in costs and delays in the distribution of the underlying assets to the Series and may negatively impact the Series’ performance.

Although certain depositary receipts may reduce or eliminate some of the risks associated with foreign investing, these types of securities generally are subject to many of the same risks as direct investment in securities of foreign issuers.

Equity Securities

Generally, prices of equity securities are more volatile than those of fixed income securities. The prices of equity securities will rise and fall in response to a number of different factors. In particular, equity securities will respond to events that affect entire financial markets or industries (such as changes in inflation or consumer demand) and to events that affect particular issuers (such as news about the success or failure of a new product). Equity securities also are subject to “stock market risk,” meaning that stock prices in general may decline over short or extended periods of time. When the value of the stocks held by the Series goes down, the value of the Series’ shares will be affected.

 Large Market Capitalization Companies. The value of investments in larger companies may not rise as much as investments in smaller companies, and larger companies may be unable to respond quickly to competitive challenges, such as changes in technology and consumer tastes.

 Small and Medium Market Capitalization Companies. Small and medium-sized companies often have narrower markets, fewer products or services to offer, and more limited managerial and financial resources than larger, more established companies. As a result, the performance of small and medium-sized companies may be more volatile, and they may face a greater risk of business failure, which could increase the volatility and risk of loss to the Series.

Limited Number of Investments

There is a risk that a Series’ portfolio may be more susceptible to factors adversely affecting issuers of securities in the Series’ portfolio than would a Series holding a greater number of securities.

Market Volatility

The value of the securities in which the Series invests may go up or down in response to the prospects of individual issuers and/or general economic conditions. Such price changes may be temporary or may last for extended periods.

Instability in the financial markets may expose the Series to greater market and liquidity risk and potential difficulty in valuing portfolio instruments that it holds. In response to financial markets that experienced extreme volatility, and in some cases a lack of liquidity, the U.S. Government and other governments have taken a number of unprecedented actions, including acquiring distressed assets from financial institutions and acquiring ownership interests in those institutions. The implications of government ownership and disposition of these assets are unclear. Additional legislation or government regulation may also change the way in which the Series is regulated, which could limit or preclude the Series’ ability to achieve its investment objective. Local, regional or global events such as war or military conflict (e.g. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine), geopolitical risk, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issue, recessions, tariffs and other restrictions on trade, inflation, rapid interest rate changes, supply chain disruptions, sanctions, or the threat or potential of one or more such events and developments, could have a significant impact on the Series and its investments, hampering the ability of the Series’ portfolio manager(s) to invest the Series’ assets as intended.

Redemption

The redemption by one or more large variable contract owners of their holdings in the Series could have an adverse impact on the remaining variable contract owners in the Series by, for example, accelerating the realization of capital gains and/or increasing the Series’ transaction costs.

The Adviser

VIA has served as the investment adviser to the Series since November 2010. VIA, located at One Financial Plaza, Hartford, CT 06103, acts as the investment adviser for over 100 mutual funds and as adviser to institutional clients. As of December 31, 2024, VIA had approximately $44.3 billion in assets under management. VIA has acted as an investment adviser for over 80 years and is an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Virtus Investment Partners, Inc., a publicly traded multi-manager asset management business.

Pursuant to the Investment Advisory Agreement with the Series and subject to the direction of the Trust’s Board of Trustees, VIA is responsible for managing the Series’ investment program in conformity with the stated policies of the Series as described in this prospectus. VIA, with the approval of the Trust’s Board of Trustees, has selected KAR, an affiliate of VIA, to serve as subadviser and perform the day-to-day portfolio management of the Series. KAR, subject to the supervision of VIA, is responsible for deciding which securities to purchase and sell for the Series and for placing the Series’ transactions.

The Series pays VIA an investment management fee that is accrued daily against the value of the Series’ net assets at the following annual rate:

For its last fiscal year, the Series paid advisory fees at the rate of 0.70% of its average net assets.

The Trust has entered into an expense limitation agreement with VIA whereby VIA has agreed to reimburse the Series for expenses necessary or appropriate for the operation of the Series (excluding certain expenses, such as front-end sales charges, taxes, leverage and borrowing expenses (such as commitment, amendment and renewal expenses on credit or redemption facilities), interest, brokerage commissions, expenses incurred in connection with any merger or reorganization, unusual or infrequently occurring expenses (such as litigation), acquired fund fees and expenses, and dividend expenses, if any) to the extent that such expenses exceed 0.98% of the Series’ average net assets. This expense limitation agreement is in place through April 30, 2026. After April 30, 2026, VIA may discontinue this expense reimbursement arrangement at any time. VIA may recapture operating expenses reimbursed under an expense reimbursement arrangement for a period of three years following the date such waiver or reimbursement occurred, provided that the recapture does not cause the Series to exceed its expense limit in effect at the time of the waiver or reimbursement, and any in effect at the time of recapture, after repayment is taken into account.

VIA serves as a manager of managers of the Series. In this capacity, VIA: (i) sets the Series’ overall investment strategies; (ii) evaluates, selects, and recommends to the Board one or more subadvisers needed to manage all or part of the assets of the Series; (iii) monitors and evaluates the subadvisers’ investment programs and results as well as the performance of the subadvisers relative to the applicable benchmark indexes; and (iv) reviews the Series’ compliance with its investment objectives, policies and restrictions.

The Trust and VIA have received shareholder approval to rely on an exemptive order from the SEC that permits VIA, subject to certain conditions and without the approval of shareholders to: (a) select both unaffiliated subadvisers and certain wholly owned affiliated subadvisers to manage all or a portion of the assets of a Series, and enter into subadvisory agreements with such subadvisers; (b) materially amend subadvisory agreements with such subadvisers; and (c) continue the employment of an existing subadviser on the same subadvisory agreement terms where an agreement has been assigned because of a change in control of the subadviser. In such circumstances, shareholders would receive notice of such action, including, if applicable, instructions regarding how to obtain the information concerning the new subadviser that normally is provided in a proxy statement.

The Subadviser

KAR, an affiliate of VIA, has served as the subadviser to the Series since September 2020. KAR is located at 2000 Avenue of the Stars, Suite 1110, Los Angeles, CA 90067. KAR acts as subadviser to mutual funds and as investment adviser to institutions and individuals. As of December 31, 2024, KAR managed approximately $67.9 billion of which $45.5 billion was regulatory assets under management and $22.4 billion was model/emulation assets under contract. Model/emulation assets refer to assets that KAR is under contract to deliver a model portfolio to and are not considered regulatory assets under management.

From its investment advisory fee, VIA, and not the Series, pays KAR for its subadvisory services at the rate of 50% of the net advisory fee.

Board of Trustees’ Approval of Investment Advisory and Subadvisory Agreements

The Trust’s annual report to shareholders for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 contains a discussion regarding the basis for the Trust’s Board of Trustees’ approval of the investment advisory and investment subadvisory agreements for the Series.

Portfolio Management

Richard Sherry, CFA manages the investments of the Series (since September 2020) and is primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Series’ investments.

Richard Sherry, CFA. Mr. Sherry is a Portfolio Manager for large-capitalization portfolios and a Senior Research Analyst at KAR with primary responsibilities for the large-capitalization communication services, energy, financials, real estate, and utilities sectors. Before joining KAR in 1995, Mr. Sherry was an operations/marketing supervisor at Pilgrim Asset Management. He began his career in the investment industry in 1991.

The statement of additional information (“SAI”) provides additional information about the portfolio manager’s compensation, other accounts managed by the portfolio manager and the portfolio manager’s ownership of securities in the Series.

Information about the Series’ principal investment strategies and risks appears in the Series Summary section and the sections entitled “More About Principal Investment Strategies” and “More About Principal Risks” above.

The information below describes other investment strategies that the Series may use that are not principal strategies and the risks of those strategies, arranged in alphabetical order, as well as other operational risks. Further descriptions of these investment strategies and practices can be found in the SAI. The greater an investment in a particular asset class by the Series, the greater the impact to the Series of the risks related to the class.

Cybersecurity

With the increased use of technologies such as the Internet to conduct business, the Series is potentially more susceptible to operational and information security risks through breaches in cybersecurity. In general, a breach in cybersecurity can result from either a deliberate attack or an unintentional event. Cybersecurity breaches may involve, among other things, infection by computer viruses or other malicious software code or unauthorized access to the digital information systems, networks or devices of the Series or its service providers (including, but not limited to, the Series’ investment adviser, transfer agent, custodian, administrators and other financial intermediaries) through “hacking” or other means, in each case for the purpose of misappropriating assets or sensitive information (including, for example, personal shareholder information), corrupting data or causing operational disruption or failures in the physical infrastructure or operating systems that support the Series. Any such cybersecurity breaches or losses of service may cause the Series to lose proprietary information, suffer data corruption or lose operational capacity, which, in turn, could cause the Series to incur regulatory penalties, reputational damage, additional compliance costs associated with corrective measures, and/or financial loss. While the Series and its service providers have established business continuity plans and risk management systems designed to prevent or reduce the impact of cybersecurity attacks, there are inherent limitations in such plans and systems due in part to the ever-changing nature of technology and cybersecurity attack tactics, and there is a possibility that certain risks have not been adequately identified or prepared for. Substantial costs may be incurred in order to prevent future cybersecurity incidents. The use of cloud-based service providers could heighten or change these risks. Recently, geopolitical tensions may have increased the scale and sophistication of deliberate cybersecurity attacks, particularly those from nation-states or from entities with nation-state backing. Cybersecurity risks may also impact issuers of securities in which the Series invests, which may cause the Series’ investments in such issuers to lose value.

ESG Consideration

The Series’ consideration of ESG factors could cause it to perform differently compared to funds that do not use such considerations. The relevance and weightings of specific ESG factors may vary across asset classes, sectors and strategies and no one factor is determinative. ESG factors are qualitative and subjective by nature and there are significant differences in interpretations of what it means for a company to have positive or negative ESG factors. There is no guarantee that the factors utilized by the Series’ subadviser or any judgment exercised by the subadviser will reflect the opinions of any particular investor, and the factors analyzed by the subadviser may differ from the factors any particular investor considers relevant in evaluating ESG practices. When integrating ESG factors into the investment process, the subadviser may rely on third-party data that it believes to be reliable, but it does not guarantee the accuracy of such third-party data. ESG information from third-party data providers may be incomplete, inaccurate or unavailable, which may adversely impact the investment process. Moreover, the current lack of common standards may result in different approaches to integrating ESG factors. As a result, the Series may invest in companies that do not reflect the beliefs and values of any particular investor.

The ESG factors that may be evaluated as part of the Series’ investment process are anticipated to evolve over time and one or more characteristics may not be relevant with respect to all issuers that are eligible for investment. Further, the regulatory landscape with respect to ESG integration in the United States is still developing and future rules and regulations may require the Series to modify or alter its investment process with respect to ESG integration.

Exchange-Traded Funds (“ETFs”)

ETFs invest in a portfolio of securities designed to track a particular market segment or index. The risks associated with investing in ETFs generally reflect the risks of owning shares of the underlying securities the ETF is designed to track, although lack of liquidity in an ETF could result in its value being more volatile

than the underlying portfolio of securities. Assets invested in ETFs incur a layering of expenses, including operating costs and advisory fees that Series shareholders indirectly bear; such expenses may exceed the expenses the Series would incur if it invested directly in the underlying portfolio of securities the ETF is designed to track. Shares of ETFs trade on a securities exchange and may trade at, above, or below their net asset value.

Operational

An investment in the Series, like any mutual fund, can involve operational risks arising from factors such as processing errors, human errors, inadequate or failed internal or external processes, failures in systems and technology, changes in personnel and errors caused by third-party service providers. The occurrence of any of these failures, errors or breaches could result in a loss of information, regulatory scrutiny, reputational damage or other events, any of which could have a material adverse effect on the Series. While the Series seeks to minimize such events through controls and oversight, there may still be failures that could cause losses to the Series.

Private Placements

The Series may purchase securities which have been privately issued to qualified institutional investors under special rules adopted by the SEC. While such securities may offer higher yields than comparable publicly traded securities, generally, privately placed securities are illiquid and are subject to resale restrictions. Privately issued securities ordinarily can be sold by the Series only in secondary market transactions to certain qualified investors pursuant to rules established by the SEC or privately negotiated transactions to a limited number of purchasers. Therefore, sales of such securities by the Series may involve significant delays and expense.

Securities Lending

The Series may loan portfolio securities with a value up to one-third of its total assets to increase its investment returns. If the borrower is unwilling or unable to return the borrowed securities when due, the lending Series can suffer losses. In addition, there is a risk of delay in receiving additional collateral or in the recovery of the securities, and a risk of loss of rights in the collateral, in the event that the borrower fails financially. There is also a risk that the value of the investment of the collateral could decline, causing a loss to the lending Series.

Short-Term Investments

Short-term investments include money market instruments, repurchase agreements, certificates of deposit and bankers’ acceptances and other short-term instruments that are not U.S. Government securities. These securities generally present less risk than many other investments, but they are generally subject to credit risk and may be subject to other risks as well.

The Trust, on behalf of each series of the Trust, including Class A Shares of the Virtus KAR Equity Income Series, has adopted a plan pursuant to Rule 12b-1 under the Investment Company Act of 1940 (the “Distribution Plan”). The Trust has entered into an Underwriting Agreement relating to the Distribution Plan with VP Distributors, LLC (the “Distributor”) located at One Financial Plaza, Hartford, CT 06103. The Distributor is an affiliate of the adviser, and serves as principal underwriter for the Trust. The Distribution Plan permits the use of Series assets to help finance the distribution of the shares of the Series.

Under the Distribution Plan, the Trust, on behalf of each Series, is permitted to pay to the Distributor (who may in turn pay other service providers) up to a total of 0.25% of the average daily net assets of Class A of the Series, as payment for services rendered in connection with the distribution of shares. Because these fees are paid out of Series assets on an ongoing basis, over time these costs will increase the cost of your investment and may cost you more than other types of sales charges.

Organization of the Trust

The Trust was organized as a Massachusetts business trust on February 18, 1986. It was subsequently reorganized into a Delaware statutory trust on February 14, 2011. The Trust currently consists of eight series of which the Series is one. The Trust’s business and affairs are managed by its Board of Trustees.

Shares of Beneficial Interest

Shares (including fractional shares) of the Series have equal rights with regard to voting, redemptions, dividends, distributions and liquidations with respect to the Series. All voting rights of the separate accounts as shareholders are passed through to the variable contract owners. Shareholders of all series of the Trust currently vote on the election of Trustees and other matters. On matters affecting an individual series such as the Series (such as approval of an advisory or subadvisory agreement or a change in fundamental investment policies), a separate vote of that Series is required. On matters affecting an individual class (such as approval of matters relating to a Distribution Plan for a particular class of shares), a separate vote of that class is required. The Trust is not required to hold annual shareholder meetings.

Series shares attributable to any insurance company assets and Series shares for which no timely instructions from variable contract owners are received will be voted by the appropriate insurance company in the same proportion as those shares for which instructions are received.

The assets received by the Trust for the issue or sale of shares of the Series, and all income, earnings, profits and proceeds thereof, subject only to the rights of creditors, are allocated to the Series, and constitute the underlying assets of the Series. The underlying assets of the Series are required to be segregated on the books of account, and are to be charged with the expenses of the Series and with a share of the general expenses of the Trust. Any general expenses of the Trust not readily identifiable as belonging to a particular series shall be allocated by or under the direction of the Trustees in such manner as the Trustees determine to be fair and equitable.

Taxes

The Trust intends for the Series to qualify as a regulated investment company (“RIC”) by satisfying the requirements under Subchapter M of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”), including requirements with respect to diversification of assets, distribution of income, and sources of income. In general, a series that qualifies as a RIC will be relieved of federal income tax on its net investment income and net capital gains distributed to its shareholders. In addition, the Trust intends for the Series to comply with the investment diversification requirements for variable contracts contained in the Code. Moreover, the Trust intends to distribute sufficient net investment income and net capital gains of the Series to avoid imposition of any federal excise tax.

Accordingly, the Trust intends that, at the close of each quarter of the taxable year, (i) not more than 25% of the market value of the Series’ total assets will be invested in the securities of a single issuer and (ii) with respect to 50% of the market value of the Series’ total assets, not more than 5% of the market value of the Series’ total assets will be invested in the securities of a single issuer and the Series will not own more than 10% of the outstanding voting securities of a single issuer.

Actual and deemed distributions of ordinary income and net capital gains generally are taxable to the Series’ shareholders, which in this case are the separate accounts. Because the sole shareholders of the Series will be the separate accounts, no discussion is included in this prospectus as to the federal income tax consequences at the shareholder level. For information concerning the federal income tax consequences to purchasers of the variable contracts, please see the variable contract prospectuses.

Disruptive Trading and Market Timing

As an investment vehicle for variable contracts, which are designed as long-term investments, the Series is not appropriate for “market timing” or other trading strategies that entail rapid or frequent investment and trading. Frequent purchases, redemptions and transfers, transfers into and then out of the Series in a short period of time, and transfers of large amounts at one time may be indicative of market timing and otherwise disruptive trading (“Disruptive Trading”), which can have risks and harmful effects for other investors. These risks and harmful effects include:

 dilution of the interests of long-term investors, if market timers or others transfer into the Series at prices that are below the true value or exchange out of the Series at prices that are higher than the true value;

 an adverse effect on portfolio management, such as causing the Series to maintain a higher level of cash than would otherwise be the case, or causing the Series to liquidate investments prematurely; and

 increased brokerage and administrative expenses.

Funds that invest primarily in international securities may be more susceptible to pricing arbitrage opportunities because of time zone differences between the closing of international and domestic markets. Funds that invest primarily in small and mid-cap securities may be more susceptible to arbitrage opportunities because of the less liquid nature of small and mid-cap securities. In addition, funds that hold significant investments in high yield bonds may also be susceptible to market timing because high yield bonds are often thinly traded so that their market prices may not accurately reflect current market developments. To the extent that the Series invests in these types of securities, it may be more susceptible to the risks of Disruptive Trading.

In order to attempt to protect Trust investors, the Trust’s Board of Trustees has adopted market timing policies reasonably designed to discourage Disruptive Trading. The Trust reserves the right to amend these policies at any time without prior notice. Because the record owners of the Series are the insurance companies and not the variable contract owners, the Trust is not ordinarily in a position to monitor for or uncover Disruptive Trading by variable contract owners. Therefore, under the Trust’s policies, the Trust delegates to each insurance company the duty to establish and maintain policies and procedures designed to detect, monitor and deter (including, without limitation, by rejecting specific purchase orders) investors (or their agents) whose purchase and redemption activity follows a Disruptive Trading pattern, and to take such other actions as the insurance company may deem necessary to discourage or reduce Disruptive Trading activities. An insurance company may only modify such policies and procedures if it provides reasonable notice to the Trust and the Trust’s Chief Compliance Officer. Please see your variable contract prospectus for information relating to applicable restrictions on purchases or transfers through your variable contract.

The Trust may also take certain actions to stop Disruptive Trading, including imposing redemption fees for the Series and ceasing sales of additional shares of the Series to a separate account through which variable contract owners are engaging in Disruptive Trading. Because the Trust reserves discretion in applying these policies, they may not be applied uniformly. In addition, the Trust, as required under SEC regulations, has entered into an agreement with each insurance company under which the insurance companies have agreed to provide the Trust or its designee with information about variable contract owner transactions in the Series upon request.

Although the Trust will endeavor to ensure that each insurance company can and does identify and deter Disruptive Trading by its variable contract owners, the Trust cannot control their efforts or guarantee their success at deterrence. In addition, the Trust cannot guarantee that monitoring by the insurance companies and the Trust will be 100% successful in detecting all Disruptive Trading activity. Consequently, there is a risk that some investors could engage in Disruptive Trading while others will bear the effects of their Disruptive Trading activities.

Portfolio Holdings

A description of the Trust’s policies and procedures with respect to the disclosure of the Series’ portfolio securities is available in the SAI.

The Board of Trustees has adopted valuation policy and approved procedures for determining the value of investments of the Series. Pursuant to the valuation policy and Rule 2a-5 under the 1940 Act, the Board of Trustees has designated the Adviser as its “valuation designee” for fair value determinations.

Shares of the Series are not available to the public directly. You may invest in the Series by buying a variable accumulation annuity contract or a variable universal life insurance policy from an insurance company and directing the allocation of the net purchase payment(s) to the investment option corresponding to the Series. The appropriate insurance company will, in turn, invest payments in shares of the Series as the investor directs at the net asset value next determined.

The Series offers only Class A Shares.

Sales Charge and Surrender Charges

The Series does not assess any sales charge, either when it sells or when it redeems securities. The sales charges that may be assessed under the variable contracts or policies are described in the variable contract prospectuses, as are other charges.

Determination of Net Asset Value

The Series calculates a share price for each class of its shares. The share price (net asset value or “NAV”) for each class is based on the net assets of the Series and the number of outstanding shares of that class. In general, each Series calculates a share price for each class by:

 adding the values of all securities and other assets of the Series;

 subtracting liabilities; and

 dividing the result by the total number of outstanding shares of that class.

Assets: Equity securities are valued at the official closing price (typically last sale) on the exchange on which the securities are primarily traded, or, if no closing price is available, at the last bid price. Shares of other investment companies are valued at such companies’ NAVs. Debt instruments, including restricted securities, are valued based on evaluated quotations received from independent pricing services or from dealers who make markets in such securities. Other assets, such as accrued interest, accrued dividends and cash are also included in determining the Series’ NAV. As required, some securities and assets are valued at fair value as determined by the Adviser.

Liabilities: Accrued liabilities for class-specific expenses (if any), distribution fees, service fees and other liabilities are deducted from the assets of each class. Accrued expenses and liabilities that are not class-specific (such as management fees) are allocated to each class in proportion to each class’s net assets except where an alternative allocation can be more appropriately made.

Net Asset Value (“NAV”): The liabilities allocated to a class are deducted from the proportionate interest of such class in the assets of the applicable Series. The resulting amount for each class is then divided by the number of shares outstanding of that class to produce each class’s NAV per share.

The NAV per share of each class of the Series is determined as of the close of regular trading (generally 4:00 PM Eastern Time) on days when the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) is open for trading. The Series will not calculate its NAV per share class on days when the NYSE is closed for trading. If the Series (or underlying fund, as applicable) holds securities that are traded on foreign exchanges that trade on weekends or other holidays when the Series does not price its shares, the NAV of the Series’ shares may change on days when shareholders will not be able to purchase or redeem the Series’ shares.

Fair Valuation

If market quotations are not readily available or available prices are not reliable, the Series determines a “fair value” for an investment according to policies and procedures approved by the Board of Trustees. The types of assets for which such pricing might be required include: (i) securities whose trading has been suspended; (ii) securities where the trading market is unusually thin or trades have been infrequent; (iii) debt instruments that have recently gone into default and for which there is no current market quotation; (iv) a security whose market price is not available from an independent pricing source and for which otherwise reliable quotes are not available; (v) securities of an issuer that has entered into a restructuring; (vi) a security whose price as provided by any pricing source does not, in the opinion of the adviser/subadviser, reflect the security’s market value; (vii) foreign securities subject to trading collars for which no or limited trading takes place; (viii) securities where the market quotations are not readily available as a result of “significant” events; and (ix) securities whose principal exchange or trading market is closed for an entire business day on which the Series needs to determine its NAV. This list is not inclusive of all situations that may require a security to be fair valued, nor is it intended to be conclusive in determining whether a specific event requires fair valuation.

The value of any portfolio security held by the Series for which market quotations are not readily available shall be determined in good faith and in a manner that assesses the security’s “fair value” on the valuation date (i.e., the amount that the Series might reasonably expect to receive for the security upon its current sale), based on a consideration of all available facts and all available information, including, but not limited to, the following: (i) the fundamental analytical data relating to the investment; (ii) the value of other relevant financial instruments, including derivative securities, traded on other markets or among dealers; (iii) an evaluation of the forces which influence the market in which these securities are purchased and sold (e.g., the existence of merger proposals or tender offers that might affect the value of the security); (iv) the type of the security; (v) the size of the holding; (vi) the initial cost of the security; (vii) trading volumes on markets, exchanges or among broker-dealers; (viii) price quotes from dealers and/or pricing services; (ix) values of baskets of securities traded on other markets, exchanges, or among dealers; (x) changes in interest rates; (xi) information obtained from the issuer, analysts, other financial institutions and/or the appropriate stock exchange (for exchange traded securities); (xii) an analysis of the company’s financial statements; (xiii) government (domestic or foreign) actions or pronouncements (xiv) recent news about the security or issuer; (xv) whether two or more dealers with whom the adviser/subadviser regularly effects trades are willing to purchase or sell the security at comparable prices; and (xvi) other news events or relevant matters.

Certain non-U.S. securities may be fair valued in cases where closing prices are not readily available or are deemed not reflective of readily available market prices. For example, significant events (such as movement in the U.S. securities market, or other regional and local developments) may occur between the time that non-U.S. markets close (where the security is principally traded) and the time that a Series calculates its NAV (generally, at the close of regular trading on the NYSE (generally 4 p.m. Eastern time)) that may impact the value of securities traded in these non-U.S. markets. In such cases, the Series fair value non-U.S. securities using an independent pricing service which considers the correlation of the trading patterns of the non-U.S. security to the intraday trading in the U.S. markets for investments such as ADRs, financial futures, ETFs, and certain indexes, as well as prices for similar securities. Because the frequency of significant events is not predictable, fair valuation of certain non-U.S. common stocks may occur on a frequent basis.

The value of a security, as determined using the fair value process, may not reflect such security’s market value.

Redemptions

The Series will redeem any shares presented for redemption by the insurance companies holding such shares. Your insurance company’s policies on when and whether to redeem Series shares are described in your variable accumulation annuity contract prospectus or variable universal life insurance policy. The Series

expects to meet redemption requests, both under normal circumstances and during periods of stressed market conditions, by using cash, by selling portfolio assets to generate cash, or by borrowing funds under a line of credit, subject to availability of capacity in such line of credit.

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April 28, 2025

Virtus KAR Small-Cap Growth Series

Class A Shares

Class I Shares

Table of Contents

Series Summary

Investment Objective

Fees and Expenses

Example

Portfolio Turnover

Investments, Risks and Performance

Principal Investment Strategies

Performance Information

Average Annual Total Returns (for the periods ended 12/31/2024)

Management

The Series’ investment adviser is Virtus Investment Advisers, LLC (formerly known as Virtus Investment Advisers, Inc.) (“VIA”).

The Series’ subadviser is Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management, LLC (“KAR”), an affiliate of VIA.

Portfolio Management

The following individuals are jointly and primarily responsible for the day-to-day management of the Series’ portfolio.

> Todd Beiley, CFA, Portfolio Manager and Senior Research Analyst at KAR. Mr. Beiley has served as a Portfolio Manager of the Series since November 2010.

> Jon Christensen, CFA, Portfolio Manager and Senior Research Analyst at KAR. Mr. Christensen has served as a Portfolio Manager of the Series since November 2010.

Purchase and Sale of Series Shares

The Series does not offer its shares to the general public. The Series currently offers shares only to the separate accounts of participating insurance companies. Virtus Variable Insurance Trust (the “Trust”), of which the Series is a separate investment portfolio, has entered into an agreement with the insurance company sponsor of each separate account (participation agreement) setting forth the terms and conditions pursuant to which the insurance company will purchase and redeem shares of the Series. For information concerning the purchase of units of the separate accounts, see the variable contract prospectus.

Tax Information

Since the separate accounts are the only shareholders of the Series, no discussion is included herein as to the federal income tax consequences at the shareholder level. For information concerning the federal income tax consequences to the purchasers of variable contracts, see the variable contract prospectus which describes the particular separate account and variable contract.

Payments to Insurance Companies and Other Financial Intermediaries

Series shares are generally available only through intermediaries, i.e., the separate accounts. The Series (and/or its related companies) may pay the insurance companies (and/or their related companies) for distribution and/or other services; some of the payments may, in turn, go to broker-dealers and other financial intermediaries. For example, the Series may make payments for sub-transfer agency services to one or more of the insurance companies. Such payments may create a conflict of interest for an intermediary by influencing the intermediary’s investment recommendations, or be a factor in the insurance company’s decision to include the Series as an underlying investment option in a variable contract. Ask your salesperson or review your variable contract prospectus for more information.

Under normal circumstances, the Series invests at least 80% of its assets in common stocks of small capitalization companies. For this policy, “assets” means net assets plus the amount of any borrowings for investment purposes. As of the date of this Prospectus, the subadviser considers small capitalization companies for this purpose to be those companies that, at the time of initial purchase, have market capitalizations within the range of companies included in the Russell 2000^® Growth Index on a rolling three-year basis. Because small capitalization companies are defined by reference to an index, the market capitalization of companies in which the Series invests may vary with market conditions. As of December 31, 2024, the total market capitalization range of companies included in the Russell 2000^® Growth Index over the past three years was $1.2 million to $56.5 billion. The Series’ policy of investing 80% of its assets in small capitalization companies may be changed only upon 60 days’ written notice to shareholders.

The subadviser uses a strategy that seeks to emphasize highly profitable, consistently growing companies with low debt and rising cash flows. If a company meets these criteria, the subadviser researches and analyzes that company’s strength of management, its relative competitive position in the industry and its financial structure. To the extent consistent with the Series’ investment objective and strategies, the subadviser may consider as an element of its investment research and decision making processes for the Series any environmental, social and/or governance (“ESG”) factors that the subadviser believes may influence risks and rewards of companies under consideration. However, any consideration of ESG factors will be within the context of the subadviser’s overall investment research and evaluation of whether such factors are relevant and financially material to a particular investment opportunity and, where deemed financially material to a particular investment opportunity, whether the subadviser believes such factors are likely to materially impact anticipated long-term capital appreciation of the investment opportunity. Although the specific ESG factors that will be relevant to each investment opportunity will differ, some examples of ESG factors the subadviser believes to be relevant to many investment opportunities are water stress, toxic emissions and waste, corporate governance, product safety and quality, labor management, and diversity & inclusion. In evaluating an existing or prospective investment, ESG is just one of several factors considered by the subadviser when making investments on behalf of the Series. In addition, ESG is not weighted more heavily than other considerations, and the Series could invest in a company even if such company scores poorly when any applicable ESG factors are considered. Generally, the Series invests in approximately 20-40 securities at any given time.

Although the Series invests primarily in U.S. companies, it may invest in foreign securities and depositary receipts.

The subadviser’s sell discipline seeks to dispose of holdings that, among other things, are the subject of negative developments individually or as an industry, or as necessary to provide funding for new holdings the subadviser deems more attractive.

The Series’ investment objective is non-fundamental, which means it may be changed without shareholder approval.

Temporary Defensive Strategy: During periods of adverse market conditions, the Series may take temporary defensive positions that are inconsistent with its principal investment strategies by holding all or part of its assets in cash and short-term money market instruments, including obligations of the U.S. Government, high-quality commercial paper, certificates of deposit, bankers’ acceptances, bank interest-bearing demand accounts, and repurchase agreements secured by U.S. Government securities. When this allocation happens, the Series may not achieve its objective.

Please see “More About Principal Risks” for information about the risks of investing in the Series. Please refer to “Additional Risks Associated with Investment Techniques and Series Operations” for other investment techniques of the Series.

The Series’ investments are subject generally to market risk and the risk of selecting underperforming securities and asset classes, which may adversely affect the Series and lead to loss of principal.

Depositary Receipts

The Series may invest in American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) sponsored by U.S. banks, European Depositary Receipts (EDRs), Global Depositary Receipts (GDRs), ADRs not sponsored by U.S. banks, other types of depositary receipts (including non-voting depositary receipts), and other similar instruments representing securities of foreign companies.

Depositary receipts may be issued in sponsored or un-sponsored programs. In a sponsored program, a security issuer has made arrangements to have its securities traded in the form of depositary receipts. In an un-sponsored program, the issuer may not be directly involved in the creation of the program. Although the U.S. regulatory requirements applicable to ADRs generally are similar for both sponsored and un-sponsored programs, in some cases it may be easier to obtain financial and other information from an issuer that has participated in the creation of a sponsored program. To the extent the Series invests in depositary receipts of an un-sponsored program, there may be an increased possibility the Series would not become aware of and be able to respond to corporate actions such as stock splits or rights offerings involving the foreign issuer of the security underlying an ADR on a timely basis. While readily exchangeable with stock in local markets, the depositary receipts in an unsponsored program may be less liquid than those in a sponsored program.

The issuers of Depositary Receipts may discontinue issuing new Depositary Receipts and withdraw existing Depositary Receipts at any time, which may result in costs and delays in the distribution of the underlying assets to the Series and may negatively impact the Series’ performance.

Although certain depositary receipts may reduce or eliminate some of the risks associated with foreign investing, these types of securities generally are subject to many of the same risks as direct investment in securities of foreign issuers.

Equity Securities

Generally, prices of equity securities are more volatile than those of fixed income securities. The prices of equity securities will rise and fall in response to a number of different factors. In particular, equity securities will respond to events that affect entire financial markets or industries (such as changes in inflation or consumer demand) and to events that affect particular issuers (such as news about the success or failure of a new product). Equity securities also are subject to “stock market risk,” meaning that stock prices in general may decline over short or extended periods of time. When the value of the stocks held by the Series goes down, the value of the Series’ shares will be affected.

 Growth Stocks. Growth stocks can react differently to issuer, political, market, and economic developments than the market as a whole and other types of stocks. Growth stocks also tend to be more expensive relative to their earnings or assets compared to other types of stocks, and as a result they tend to be sensitive to changes in their earnings and more volatile than other types of stocks.

 Small Market Capitalization Companies. Small companies often have narrower markets, fewer products or services to offer, and more limited managerial and financial resources than larger, more established companies. As a result, the performance of small companies may be more volatile, and they may face a greater risk of business failure, which could increase the volatility and risk of loss to the Series.

Foreign Investing

Investing in securities of non-U.S. companies involves special risks and considerations not typically associated with investing in U.S. companies, and the values of non-U.S. securities may be more volatile than those of U.S. securities. The values of non-U.S. securities are subject to economic, geopolitical, and political developments in countries and regions where the issuers operate or are domiciled, or where the securities are traded, such as changes in economic or monetary policies, and to changes in currency exchange rates. Values may also be affected by restrictions on receiving the investment proceeds from a non-U.S. country.

In general, less information is publicly available about non-U.S. companies than about U.S. companies. Non-U.S. companies are generally not subject to the same accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards as are U.S. companies. In addition, the Series’ investments in non-U.S. securities may be subject to withholding and other taxes imposed by countries outside the U.S., which could reduce the return on an investment in the Series. Certain foreign issuers classified as passive foreign investment companies may be subject to additional taxation risk. Risks associated with foreign investing include the following:

 Currency Rate. Because the foreign securities in which the Series invests generally trade in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, changes in currency exchange rates will affect the Series’ net asset value, the value of dividends and interest earned, and gains and losses realized on the sale of securities. Because the value of the Series’ shares is calculated in U.S. dollars, it is possible for the Series to lose money by investing in a foreign security if the local currency of a foreign market depreciates against the U.S. dollar, even if the local currency value of the Series’ holdings goes up. Generally, a strengthening U.S. dollar relative to such other currencies will adversely affect the value of the Series’ holdings in foreign securities.

Limited Number of Investments

There is a risk that a Series’ portfolio may be more susceptible to factors adversely affecting issuers of securities in the Series’ portfolio than would a Series holding a greater number of securities.

Market Volatility

The value of the securities in which the Series invests may go up or down in response to the prospects of individual issuers and/or general economic conditions. Such price changes may be temporary or may last for extended periods.

Instability in the financial markets may expose the Series to greater market and liquidity risk and potential difficulty in valuing portfolio instruments that it holds. In response to financial markets that experienced extreme volatility, and in some cases a lack of liquidity, the U.S. Government and other governments have taken a number of unprecedented actions, including acquiring distressed assets from financial institutions and acquiring ownership interests in those institutions. The implications of government ownership and disposition of these assets are unclear. Additional legislation or government regulation may also change the way in which the Series is regulated, which could limit or preclude the Series’ ability to achieve its investment objective. Local, regional or global events such as war or military conflict (e.g. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine), geopolitical risk, acts of terrorism, the spread of infectious illness or other public health issue, recessions, tariffs and other restrictions on trade, inflation, rapid interest rate changes, supply chain disruptions, sanctions, or the threat or potential of one or more such events and developments, could have a significant impact on the Series and its investments, hampering the ability of the Series’ portfolio manager(s) to invest the Series’ assets as intended.

Redemption

The redemption by one or more large variable contract owners of their holdings in the Series could have an adverse impact on the remaining variable contract owners in the Series by, for example, accelerating the realization of capital gains and/or increasing the Series’ transaction costs.

Sector Focused Investing

The value of the investments of a Series that focuses its investments in a particular market sector will be highly sensitive to financial, economic, political and other developments affecting that market sector, and conditions that negatively impact that market sector will have a greater impact on the Series as compared with a Series that does not have its holdings similarly focused. Events negatively affecting the market sectors in which a Series has invested are therefore likely to cause the value of the Series’ shares to decrease, perhaps significantly.