Shares of Chewy, the online pet product retailer owned by PetSmart, soared as much as 86% Friday after the company made its public debut.

The retailer's stock opened Friday at $36, giving the company a market capitalization of $14.3 billion. Chewy closed its first trading day at $34.99 per share, trading 59% above its IPO price.

On Thursday night, Chewy priced 46 million shares at $22 apiece, above the indicative range of $19 to $21 that it had given. The amount of stock offered in the deal was 5 million more than expected, and raised $1 billion.

Chewy, founded in 2011 by Ryan Cohen and Michael Day, calls itself the "largest pure-play pet e-tailer in the United States." It has distinguished itself from many of its competitors with customer service that includes 24/7 access and two-day shipping of online orders.

Its loyal customer base, 60% growth rate and $3.5 billion in sales, helped it to attract investors in its IPO, said Kathleen Smith, principal at Renaissance Capital, which manages IPO-focused exchange traded funds.

"Today, in the United States, we're only about 14% penetrated from an online point of view," Chewy CEO Sumit Singh said on CNBC's "Squawk on the Street" before the company began trading. "Chewy, if you look at it — it's a $70 billion industry — we're penetrated in about roughly 10% of the households."