Shares of online real estate broker Redfin hit the public market on Friday in a $138.5 million IPO. The stock popped 44.7 percent headed on its first trading day. The stock was listed on the Nasdaq under the symbol "RDFN." The 9.23 million share offering priced at $15 a share, above the expected price range of $12 to $14 apiece. Redfin specializes in buying and selling homes and uses a mobile app to do tasks like schedule home tours and suggest listings.

Redfin IPO at the Nasdaq market site in New York, July 28, 2017. Source: Nasdaq

In its prospectus, Redfin differentiates itself from other tech companies that use only the internet and mobile apps to connect consumers with businesses. It also has a tool to estimate home values similar to Zillow's "Zestimate." Redfin tracks home sales, prices, inventory, buyer demand and luxury transactions among other metrics in monthly reports. CEO Glenn Kelman compared Redfin's home visualization platform to Google's Street View for inside a home. Revenue in 2016 jumped 43 percent to $267.2 million from $187.3 million a year earlier. The company's net loss narrowed to $22.5 million from $30.2 million. Redfin calls itself a "technology-powered real estate broker." Technology investors like Madrona Ventures, Greylock Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson and T. Rowe Price backed Redfin, which was created in 2004. Goldman Sachs led the IPO. "I am so proud of the company right now," Kelman told CNBC's "Power Lunch" on Friday.

'We have to move that much faster'

While Redfin is an online brokerage, Kelman has long seen the company as a burgeoning technology play. Kelman helped found Plumtree Software in 2002 before coming to Redfin. He said he got into real estate after a frustrating experience buying a house. He said he wants the company to feel like "the Apple of real estate" in a world of Radio Shacks. He also compared the company to Uber or Lyft, as a platform that helps consumers connect with realtors instantly. In a 2013 interview, Kelman first touted Redfin as a brokerage with agents who are "really on your side." Redfin agents are not paid traditional commissions, but a regular salary plus a bonus for customer satisfaction. It's also the human element that leads to a gross margin of 31 percent, much lower than most big internet companies. "We don't have a problem recruiting agents because they earn twice the industry average," Kelman said on Friday. In discussing the company's future growth, however, Kelman centered more on integrating technology and information into the platform.